Making Things Better
by RogerShanksLuffy
Summary: Vero left everything behind to start a new life in Reborn and help people. He certainly does that by fighting Team Meteor, but it seems that he also needs help himself. Thankfully, his girlfriends are willing to assist. Pokemon Reborn with Romance and Lemons between OC and some female characters.
1. Arrival in Reborn

**I started replaying through Pokemon Reborn and decided to finish up my other pokemon story, strength of a champion, to write a story about my OC's journey through Reborn, but with Romance and Lemons involved. If you've never played Reborn, I highly recommend it, it's not that difficult to download. This will go through the main story, but note that as the game is very long, and difficult, it depends on where I am in my playthrough for how often I write chapters. This will be rated M for Violence and Language, just like the game, but also for Lemons which I'm adding. This will include multiple relationships, so it's a semi-harem, but will not include every female character. It will mainly revolve around Victoria and Amaria though. I'm also not going to focus on the battles themselves all that much. This is more of a conversational story. I'm going to use the default name for the first male sprite, Vero Espenson. I do not own Pokemon Reborn or any Pokemon material. Enjoy!**

"...Hey. Are you awake? Good, you're okay."

All Vero heard was a female voice as he slowly opened his eyes, finding himself lying against the ground. He slowly stood up, noticing a few scrapes on his arms, and feeling sore.

"Are you sure you're alright?" she asked, more concerned this time.

"...Yeah, I'll be fine."

"Good. The train exploded right as we pulled into the station. We're lucky we got out of there in time, but who would-?"

"Hihi!" A cheerful voice interrupted.

"...Julia. Julia, what did you do?"

"Whaaaaat?! I didn't do anything! I was at the gym-gym and then suddenly BOOM, so I came running!" she cheered.

Vero tried to grasp his surroundings and remember what he was doing. That's right, he was moving to the Reborn region and leaving his life in Hoenn behind. After Teams Magma & Aqua were thwarted by a young boy and the champion Steven, things went back to normal, but he had nothing left back there. So he saved up as much money as possible and went somewhere where he could start a new life, and make a difference by helping people. And what better place than Reborn? It was a dangerous city sure, but that would mean that a lot of people could use some hope in their lives.

Everything was crumbled into rubble. Police officers were nearby, examining the crime scene and looking for other survivors. There were dark clouds in the sky, but not for storms. They looked more like pollution clouds. The sea surrounding them was a murky brown, definitely not safe for swimming or drinking, not that anyone should do that anyway. He looked over at the two women standing near him, now seeming to be out of his daze.

The first one, the one that woke him up, wore tall black boots, purple jeans, a white and black spotted belt, and a white and black short sleeve blouse. She had two bracelets on her wrists, a gold one on her right, and a purple one on her left. She wore a black scarf around her neck, and had long wavy silver hair.

The other one, Julia, seemed just a little bit younger, maybe 21 or so. She wore a yellow and tan jacket, short tan skirt, tan long socks, and yellow shoes. Though her most noticeable feature was her green hair, tied into a long ponytail, with two large strands against the sides of her face. She also wore a light pink lipstick.

"Cuz you know if things are exploding, I gotta be there to see it. It's so cool!"

"Uh huh." The other one sighed. In any case, based on the timing, this must have been a deliberate attack. Somebody used the train to destroy Grandview Station."

"By the looks of it, they did a pretty good job!"

"Maybe, but this isn't the time to be admiring their work. I'll have the perimeter locked down. There's a chance we could catch the perpetrator before they get away." She turned to me. **[A/N: I'm going to stick to 1st person when needed.]**

"Sorry Vero, but I have to go. Fortunately, I'd already arranged for someone to met you here. She can help get you started here. Go down to the Grand Hall; she'll be waiting for you there. It's just down this road. And, don't worry about all of this. We'll take care of it." She waved goodbye and headed down the road she just pointed out.

"So you're Vero?" Julia asked, now turning to me. I'm Julia, captain of cheer and pep, and all things bubbly and bright!"

"Wow, who knew?" I laughed sarcastically. She giggled.

"Oh, pop quiz! Are you going to take on the Reborn League?"

"Yes."

"Correct!" she jumped up and down. "Then I'll be seeing you very soon, because I'm also the electric gym leader!"

'Electric first? That's different…'

"I'll be looking forward to your challenge, so go on, get down to the Grand Hall already!"

"Alright, I'll see you later then." I walked by and kept going down the road. Things didn't look too good. The people that survived the train explosion seemed to stare out into space, lost. I walked up to one of them. She turned and looked at me with dead eyes.

"You were on the train? So was my fiancé…" she muttered.

"I'm sorry…" I left it at that, and continued walking towards the Grand Hall. As I arrived, there was another young woman standing on the steps. She was cute too, and looked to be my age, 19. She seemed more...cultured than the other girls, and that was because of her outfit. She wore black pants, a long black skirt, and a gray robe over everything, with a yin yang printed on both ends, complete with a black sash tied around her waist, and black martial arts shoes. She had long black hair, with part of it clipped up. She caught me staring and blushed slightly before smiling.

"Hey, are you Vero?"

"Uh, yeah."

"I'm Victoria! Nice to meet you!" she introduced. "Ame asked that I help get you signed up in the Reborn System. Don't worry, it doesn't take long! Let's go inside."

Inside was a large pokemon center, complete with a healing counter, mart, and administration in the back, which is where he went to. Ame stood at the back.

"Hey there. Looks like I actually managed to beat you here."

"Yeah...I took some time to take in the city."

"And? What did you think?"

"There's a lot of people here that need help, aren't there?"

"...Yes." she smiled. "Anyway, we caught the culprit almost immediately. He's being interrogated downstairs right now."

"Culprit? You mean the one behind the bombing?" Victoria asked.

"Yep. And it seems he's not working alone. But, that'll be taken care of. So you're both here to get signed up for the Reborn League, right?"

"That's right! Kiki said that it would be good for my training, also, if I started over completely. So she asked if I could get a new pokemon, too."

"Kiki? Who's that?" I asked.

"She's my sensei, and Reborn's Fighting Gym Leader." she answered. "You'll meet her at some point, she's wonderful!"

"I look forward to meeting her. So, new pokemon?" I turned and asked Ame.

"Yes. Normally, we reserve them strictly for newcomers, but I suppose we can make an exception on Kiki's request.

"Oh, thank you!"

"However Vero will have the first choice."

"That's okay, I don't mind at all." Ame unlocked the employee gate and motioned for me to follow her up the stairs. We came into a room with three long tables, and upon each was 6 pokeballs.

"These pokemon are all set aside for new trainers to choose from. The tables go from top to bottom in order of Grass, Fire, Water, and the pokemon are arranged from left to right in the order that they were discovered. Go ahead, take any you like."

"Thanks. Hmm…" I walked alongside the tables, thinking about which to take.

'Julia's the first gym leader, right? She said electric...Well, the only one that will have ground is Mudkip. But, Charmander will learn Dragon Rage, which is also really good at the beginning.' I picked up the ball for Charmander.

"All settled? Let's not keep Victoria waiting."

"Yeah. Let's go." We walked out and I stood back with Victoria again.

"Which one did you pick, Vero?"

"Charmander."

"Cool! Oh, don't worry, I won't pick one just to beat you; that's silly. I already know which one I want anyway."

"Well then, shall we~?" Ame sang.

"Wait here, Vero." She went upstairs, leaving me alone in the main room.

"Heyyyy, you're cute." a high male voice cooed.

'Oh great, what now?' I turned around to see an extremely feminine guy looking at me. He had a very purple and black color scheme, wearing tall gray boots, purple pants, a black and white belt, what looked to be a fishnet shirt, a purple striped collared shirt, a cross necklace, cross earrings, and striking purple hair, the back of it tied around into a knot, and the front having a long front sweep that covered his right eye. His fingernails were painted black as well, and...eyeshadow, maybe?

"What do you want?" I asked.

"What? Haha, no, I didn't say anything! Hey, was Ame just here?"

"Yeah, she's upstairs."

"Ohhh, so she's with someone else. 'Kay~ My name's Cain, how about yours?"

"Vero."

"Vero...pretty name." I scrunched my face up a little. "So by the looks of it you just got your first pokemon. Are you gonna challenge the league?"

"Yeah, you?"

"I'm not exactly a new trainer, but I-...well, I had to leave everything behind due to some...circumstances."

"I see...you and I aren't so different after all."

"Hmm~? What do you mean?"

"...I'll tell you someday, maybe."

"I'll be waiting. Sooo, whaddya say to a battle, Vero?"

"Umm...can we fight in here?"

"Not taking no for an answer!" He tossed a pokeball into the air, and a male Nidoran came out.

"...Fine. Charmander. Let's do this." I tossed my own pokeball out, and Charmander popped out.

"Use Scratch!"

"Same, Nidoran!" They both used it, and caused each other damage.

"Nidoran, Leer!" Nidoran's eye flashed, making Charmander startled.

"Now Scratch!"

"Dodge it!" Charmander dodged it and scratched Nidoran again, making it weak.

"Almost done. Charmander, Growl!" Charmander growled at Nidoran, and the next scratched the creature delivered didn't hurt as much.

"Now finish it! Scratch!" Charmander finished the fight, feeling itself grow stronger. "Nice job. Return."

"Return, Nidoran. Wow, not bad~ Alright c'mon, let's get our pokemon healed up. There's a center built in right over there. We walked to the front of the building and healed our pokemon, as we saw both Victoria and Ame walk over to us.

"There you are!" Victoria said.

"Sorry~ I kinda stole Vero."

"Oh, Cain, I forgot you were coming by." Ame looked at him.

"It's okayyy, when you were gone, I met Vero and had some fun~"

"'Had some fun?' I didn't know you were like that, Vero…" Victoria muttered, her eyes wide.

"No, I'm not!" I said immediately. I must have imagined it, but I could swear Victoria seemed relieved as soon as I cleared things up.

"What? Haha, no, we just had a battle." Cain explained.

"Oh! That does sound fun! I want to test out my new pokemon too. Come on, Vero, up for one more?"

I sighed. "I guess."

"All right. Cain, I'll get you registered as a challenger while they do that. Come with me."

"Ooh, yes master~"

"'Master?'"

"Nothing~"

"Uh….huh. Come on." The two walked back to the counter, while Victoria sent out a Tepig. Again, with some quick thinking, Vero won.

"Hmph. But every loss is a lesson, I guess, right?"

"Yeah. I know you'll be a great trainer, Victoria." She smiled thoughtfully. Cain walked back over.

"Heyy, Ame is waiting for you two when you're done. I'm gonna hit the road. See ya~!" We watched him leave before walking back together.

"Sorry to keep you waiting!" Victoria apologized as we reached the counter.

"No worries. Actually, I took care of the documentation while you two were 'having your fun', as Cain put it."

"Wh-What?! No! It's not like that! I mean…" she blushed.

"Weren't you just the one who thought that's what that meant?" I asked.

"Oh, calm down, I'm just teasing." Ame laughed. "So, then all that's left is to give you these; Firstly, a Pokedex. You both know the drill here." She handed two to us. "Secondly, the PokeGear. This device allows you to check the map, listen to music, and there may be other maps to find for it. This can also act as a cell phone, in case you want to add each other as contacts and call each other." She gave both of them to us again.

"And you're all set! I'm going to go check on the interrogation with the bombing. Good luck to both of you."

"Thank you so much, Ame! Good luck!" She went downstairs. "All right, I should get going and tell Kiki I'm on my way. I told you who Kiki was, right? She's my teacher. I'm an apprentice at Apophyll Academy, in the Azurine Region of Reborn. If you're ever in the area, stop by! We'd love to have you. But, since you're taking on the league, you'll have to go there at some point eventually!"

"Right, because she's the Fighting Leader."

"That's right. Here, these might also help you." She handed me 5 pokeballs that I put in my bag. "So to get started, explore the city! And when you think you're ready, head over to the gym in Peridot Ward. Also, here. I'll give you my number." We exchanged PokeGears and put our contact info in.

"If you ever need something, just text or call. I'll see you around!" She hugged me before walking towards the exit.

"Victoria, huh? And Julia. And Ame. Reborn's just full of beautiful women, isn't it?" I smirked and walked out into the city myself.

 **X**

"Alright, how many fights has that been now?" I looked down at my team: Espurr, Whismur, Goldeen, Pidgeotto, and Charmeleon.

"I think I'm ready…" I walked up to the entrance of the gym, reading the sign on the front gate.

" _ **Neo-Circuit Power Plant- A Silph Co. Service."**_ There was something else underneath.

" **Neo-Circuit is such a LAME name! I officially retitle this place the Electro-Dazzle Happy Boom-Time House of Cheer!"**

"Heh...That girl's hilarious." I laughed, walking up to the front door, finding it locked. There was a note stuck to the glass.

"Julia, do consider curbing your soporific tendencies before agreeing to rendezvous during your 'naptime.' Nonetheless, we will proceed to the factory. Join immediately." I read out loud. "Huh. A factory? Well, there were two that I passed by before." I left and went to the upper one, finding a green haired man, again around my age, standing out in front.

"Ugh, where are they? They said to meet at the old factory. Maybe they meant the other factory. They should've specified. Hm? Hey, what are you looking at?" he turned to me.

"Nothing."

"Got a problem? Name's Fern. I'm the cool cat, and the top dog. Got it?"

"I really don't care. I'm doing something else right now."

"Oh, that's it! Get ready for a lesson in class!"

"Ugh, here we go again." Due to his entire team being Grass type, it was easy for Pidgeotto, Espurr, and Charmeleon to sweep him.

"Hah! Way to get lucky. Whatever, man. Don't have time for this."

"That's what I said in the first place!" I yelled at him.

"Yeah, well I don't back down on a challenge! It's just who I am!"

"But you were the one that challenged me…"

"Huh? You say something? Speak up!"

"No, nevermind. It was nothing."

"Hmph. Unlike you, I have places to be, and people waiting for me. So what if you're doing the Gym League challenge? You don't even have a badge yet? Talk about lame. Maybe you should go work on that. I, however, am required elsewhere. Later, loser!" He walked away.

"What a douche." I said under my breath. "Although, he might have a point. I wonder if Julia's back yet?" I left and went to the gym again. This time when I opened the door, she slammed into me and almost fell back, but I quickly grabbed her hand and pulled her into me.

"Oh, hihi, Vero! Sorry about that!" she blushed, hugging me. "Were you coming to challenge my gym?"

"Yeah. You're going somewhere?"

"Yeah! I'd love to battle you, but it's gonna have to wait; we've got trouble! I just got a report from Ame about the bombing at Grandview Station!"

"And? What did it say?"

"They caught the perp', and not only was he not working alone, but there's a whole team! He said that the next place they were going to blow up was the power plant- MY Gym! Nobody booms things without me, least of all MY things! So I'm going to hop over there and teach them a lesson! One of my friends is going to come help, too, so I've gotta run~" She hugged me again before starting to walk off, yet turning around again.

"I know! Why don't you come, too? Meet us at the Mosswater Factory. It's right by the train tracks! See you there~" She went off, for real this time, though I followed close behind, this time going to the lower factory. I walked up to the front door, where Julia stood.

"You came! I was just thinking of how we could get in. The door is sealed shut, soooo…."

"Let me guess. Explosives?"

"You know me so well! Stand back!" She walked up and placed some thermal charge devices against it. "Kaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa…..BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!" she cheered as the door blew up.

"All better!" Two people walked up behind us. One of them I recognized, and was not happy to see again.

"Hey, where did you guys come from?" she asked.

"Explosion detected. Julia's presence confirmed." The one I didn't know said blandly.

"Well whaddya know! Make things go boom; acquire friends~ Vero, this is Florinia. Back in school, she was my roommate and BFF~" Florinia wore a more conservative outfit than some of the others he had met so far. She wore black leggings and tall green boots, a black long sleeve shirt, and a green sweater over it, in addition to short green shorts over her leggings. She had a gray belt clipped around her waist, short grayish green hair that was swept and pointed to the left, and glasses. She seemed more like the teacher type, not quite someone that Vero found himself into. So far, Victoria seemed like his best bet. Wait a minute, why was he thinking about this? I shook my head.

"Aaaaaaaaand this is Fern. Hi Fern. Okay, moving on!" I smirked. Julia just kept getting better and better, despite how hyperactive she was.

"Hah! I get no respect. But it's fine. Vero and I already met."

"Time wastes. Let us proceed."

"Yo, Vero, I know we got off on the wrong foot, but it's cool, right? Don't mind my sister, she's kinda weird. People call her 'Flobot' cause of how she talks."

"Yeah, I can see that. But if it's all the same to her, I'll just stick with her actual name."

"Well, I call her Rini, because she's not a robot!" Julia interjected. "Now come on, focusies, we have bad guys to boom!" she pouted, clearly wanting to just watch something explode already. "Supposedly, this is their base. The guy who bombed Grandview Station is with this group called 'Team Meteor.' Weird name, right? But if we don't get in here and boom their faces off, they're gonna keep booming everything else! A practice I normally approve of, but not like this. Sooooo, chaaaaarge!" she cheered, going on, followed by the other two, and then Vero at the end.

"This place smells terribadtastic!"

Walking in, there seemed to be an empty room save for a security camera hanging from the ceiling, two hallways to the left and right, and a railway that overlooked a river of murky purple liquid.

"The wine hue indicates high levels of pollutants. Estimated toxicity: 90+%."

"And this is being dumped right into Azurine Lake. No wonder it's so poisonous!"

"Yeah yeah, blahblahblah, enough with the hippie environmental bull, let's just get going." Fern tried to hurry the two girls along.

"We have to stop this factory from ruining the lake! Team Meteor clearly doesn't care about the well-being of the city."

"The path diverges. The most efficient course of motion for facilitation of thorough investigation and reclamation of this property is a similar bisection of the party." Florinia said.

"And in English?" Fern asked.

"Split up." I told him.

"Rini will come with me! We'll take this wing!" Julia said happily. "Vero, you go with Fern. Try not to let his attitude get to you~"

"Excuse me?"

"Nothing! Come on Rini, let's gooooo!" She quickly ran off to the right wing.

"Proceed with caution."

"I always do, sis."

"You were not the intended recipient of my previous statement. Permission for you to be life-endangeringly reckless: Granted." She left.

"Ha!"

"Oh, shut up. As you can see she didn't get enough hugs growing up. Not my problem. So Vero, looks like it's just you and me. Try not to slow me down."

"Likewise."

 **X**

After powering through a bunch of Meteor Grunts, we finally had some quiet time shutting off the switches. On the way to the stairs, Fern suddenly asked me an unexpected question.

"Hey, you're new in Reborn, right? Why did you come here?"

"Huh? Why ask something like that?"

"Call it curiosity. I'm sure you've realized it by now, even though you've really only seen two wards. Reborn City is a shithole. Even you can't be that oblivious."

"...Yeah, so it is. It's certainly not like back home."

"Where are you from?"

"...Hoenn."

"That's a huge difference. So why come here of all places?"

"I wanted to start over. A clean slate, a new life."

"Here? I would have stayed over there."

"I came here to help others and make a difference."

"You're going to have to make more than one difference to change anything around here. A lot more."

"...I know." We kept walking, and came out to where the other two were, looking at a barricade that prevented us from going any further.

"Meteor headquarters confirmed beyond gate."

"Now it's just a matter of opening it! I can easily blow this gate to smithereens, but I used the last of my boomies getting in. But if they were planning to do demolitions, they probably have some that they'd let us borrow! If we can get those, I can get us past here no problemo!"

"Regardless…" Florinia walked up to the computer in front of the gate and began typing. "This facility's digital security system appears substandard. A brute force attack should be sufficient. Please hold."

"Brute force? I don't think we're gonna punch through the door! Vero, think you can find where they keep the explosives? It wasn't the way we came, but it's probably nearby! If you can do that, we'll be in easily!"

"Why is combustion your solution to every obstacle?"

"Fun for the whole family?" I couldn't tell if she was joking or serious.

"Indeed." was all she replied with.

"Whatever man, I don't have time to sit around all day and wait for the Flobot to hack into the system. Let's just go find some bombs already."

"That's the spirit! For once, Fern says something I agree with! Quick Vero, to the boom-mobile!"

"...Batman? Really?"

"I've always liked it!" she pouted, looking adorable.

"Yeah, yeah. We'll be right back." We went down the other hall.

"...I know you just got here, but have you thought about going back yet?"

"Trying to get rid of me, are you?"

"Ha! If you were gone, who would I have to show up?"

"Funny, because the way I remember it, I'm the one who beat you. No, I don't think about going back. There's nothing left for me there. And we're leaving it at that for today." I shot him a serious look, and he nodded.

"There." I pointed to a box filled with dynamite.

"Good. I'll grab these, let's get out of here." We walked back out to the others.

"Here you go, crazy lady." Fern handed Julia the box.

"Boomies! You got them! Okay, let's do this!" She walked over to the gate and set a few up. "Okay! 3...2...Ka…" Just then, the gate unlocked.

"Huh?"

"Access granted. Let us proceed." We all fell over.

"We just got those explosives for nothing!" We yelled at her. She ignored us and walked through the door.

"Wait, but...I- and...the booms! What about the booms?! Rini! You can't do that! I was just about to-Rini!" She ran after her.

"Hah, leave it to my sister to ruin everyone's fun."

"..."

"Whatever, let's just get a move on." We walked in, seeing two grunts and a suspicious looking man who was clearly their boss. He wore black and red sneakers, black pants, a red undershirt, a black military coat, and had black spiked hair with a red scope over his eye.

"...You look like Deadshot." I said plainly.

"I get that a lot."

"Knock it off. Stop breaking the 4th wall." Fern smacked my head.

"You! Are you the one in charge here?" Julia asked.

"And if I am?" he replied, taking a step forward.

"We're gonna blow your face off for what you did to Grandview Station!"

"Amusing. Tell me, what power do you think you have to do so?"

"Just who do you think you are, anyway?!"

"You know already. We are Team Meteor. And we do not relent. Don't think you got through this place on your own ability."

I started clenching my fists.

"We had no intention of defeating you. Our purpose here is forfeit already. But it was necessary to let you in, so that you could attend a demonstration."

"Let us in?"

"Did you really think you hacked our security so easily? Foolish. I ordered our operators to slow you down long enough to delete all mission critical data from our systems. But it seems we overestimated your strength. Time was ample. We grew tired of waiting. Now, enough talk. Aster."

"Yes, boss!" One of the grunts walked forward.

"Eclipse."

"Yeah?" The other one responded.

"Deal with the small fries. I can handle the gym leaders."

"Hmph. If you say so." The one called Eclipse said. For Team Meteor!" They sent out an Elekid and Magby, while Fern and I sent out our Budew and Goldeen.

"Not again….I'm not going to let another one take control!" I yelled, startling the others. "Goldeen, Water Pulse!" It obeyed, and knocked out the Magby in one hit. "Now return. Charmeleon!" I sent out my main, and called for Dragon Rage, another one hit KO on the Elekid.

"Grr…" The two stepped back.

"So you lost already? How disappointing. I can take on two myself easily, but four...well, it was an amusing diversion. Don't think you've won, though."

"Charmeleon, Scratch on their boss." I ordered. It looked back at me questioningly before I nodded in approval. It cried out and rushed for him, but his Seviper intercepted the attack and returned us to a stalemate.

"Team Meteor does not forgive." Those were his final words before they all vanished.

"Is he gone?" Julia asked.

"Affirmative. Cradily, return."

"You too, Electrode! Good job~ Now let's see….mhm~" She started humming to herself before turning around.

"Okay! You all should start running now!"

"Huh? What did you do now?" Fern asked annoyed.

"Kaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa…."

"Oh shit! Let's move!" We all ran outside as the building imploded, preventing us from getting back in later.

"Well, that's a wrap! Gooooo team!"

"Uh huh. If you're done with your pyrotechnics, I'm gettin' out of here. I can't just dawdle around all day, unlike Vero. Peace!" He left.

"Way to sour the mood…"

"That is one of his few veritable competencies. Nonetheless, Obsidia requires further investigation. I will attend to that now."

"Okay~! Thank you for your help! I know you've been really busy since our graduation, but it's nice to get to hang out~ Just like old times, right?"

"And equally destructive, correct. However, sentimentalities remain counterproductive. Vero, did you observe terrain-variant effects during the operation?"

"Huh? Oh...yeah."

"Then you should already be aware of some aspects of Field Effects. Recently many trainers have been documenting the specific attributes of each environment. As such, I have created an application to catalogue these attributes and effects. Please allow me to install the beta version into your Pokegear." I handed it to her and she quickly updated it.

"A small population has already begun recording data for this application. Currently, only data on the Electric Terrain is stored in the device. Please collect additional information with the help of other people, or by finding environmental readouts that may have been extracted at various locations."

"Wait, did you say Electric Terrain?!" Julia asked suddenly. "Rini! That's for MY gym! Are you trying to give Vero a lead on me?"

"At any rate, I will report today's proceedings to Ame. Farewell."

"Rini! If you're gonna sass me, at least do it with some feeling! Siiiiigh….she's never been the same since...well, nevermind! Thanks for your help today, Vero! You were great!" I remained unresponsive.

"And speaking of things that haven't been the same since, you acted up in that battle! What's wrong~?" she cooed.

"...Old memories. That's all." She looked down before up at the sky. It was already nighttime.

"Hey...you don't have a place to stay yet, right?"

"No, why? I haven't made enough yet to get my own place."

"Come stay with me for a while. Besides, two people paying for rent is better than one, right~"

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah. You look like you need someone to talk to anyways. So come on!" She grabbed my hand and led me to her apartment.

 **X**

Despite living in the Peridot Ward, Julia had a nice place, something that was relatively hard to find in Reborn unless you lived in the Lapis or Onyx Wards. And, surprise surprise, the color scheme was yellow and green.

"Have a seat wherever~" She hung up her coat and tossed her socks in the laundry, leaving her barefoot and in a bright yellow tank top. She also took her hair tie out, letting it down. I sat down on a large recliner opposite her bed.

"Sooo~ What's eating at you?"

"...Julia, how do you stay so happy all the time?"

"Hm? What do you mean?"

"I mean...this whole region is desolate and depressing...you seem to be the only optimist around here...even Fern says the same thing. So why are you always so cheerful?" Her happy go lucky face disappeared and became replaced with a serious look that was rare for her.

"Because if I'm not, then who will be?" she smiled cutely.

"Hmph. I guess…"

"...Vero. You need to let someone in. I know you mean well, but you've been distancing yourself from others."

"...You can tell?" I looked up, almost ashamed.

"Of course I can tell. So tell me why."

"Well...It's not so much about others knowing, it's about me remembering. I come from the Hoenn Region. I don't know if you got news about it over here, but we recently had a bit of trouble with a group not unlike Team Meteor."

"What did they want?" She no longer had her cheery persona. She realized that this meant a lot to me.

"Have you ever heard of Groudon and Kyogre?"

"The...legendary pokemon, right?"

"Yeah...Groudon has control over land, while Kyogre has control over the sea. Two criminal organizations, Team Magma and Team Aqua, wanted to revive them to create their version of a perfect world. Long story short, it didn't go well, as you'd expect, and ended up costing me my family…"

"Oh, Vero…"

"When they were revived...a massive storm began...lightning, floods, even some volcano eruptions...my father was a policeman, and was killed by one of Team Magma's Admins and their pokemon. My mother was struck by lightning and ended up drowning while she was unconscious...leaving just myself and my older sister. She was everything to me. And then, one night, she was killed by an assailant right in front of me...her death shattered me, and I had nothing left over there...she had me listed as the contingent beneficiary on her 401K, so when she died, I received the money that she had saved up. I used it to come here, to try and make a difference in a place like Reborn and start a new life...though everyone has been discouraging me for trying…"

I glanced up, seeing Julia somewhat in shock and looking extremely concerned.

"Oh...sorry, I kind of just said everything at once, didn't I?" The next thing I realized, Julia had jumped into my lap and hugged me tightly, her arms wrapped around my neck.

"J-Julia…? What are you doing?" I asked, startled.

"I'm sorry…" she mumbled.

"...It's alright…" He returned the embrace, gently rubbing her back.

"You're doing a good thing."

"Thanks…" I looked over at the clock. Midnight already. "Julia, we should get some sleep. Come on. After all, we have a battle tomorrow."

"Ah, that's right~!" She sat up and got off onto the floor. We went over into the bathroom and she handed me an extra toothbrush, where we brushed our teeth. I stepped back for a minute, leaning against the bathtub wall, seeing something I really didn't expect. Since she was brushing her teeth, she was leaning over the counter, quite far at that. You could see right up her skirt, and she didn't have anything on; her big round butt and her plump vulva were in plain view. The brush almost fell out of his mouth, but as quickly as Vero noticed the sight, it disappeared again as she finished rinsing her mouth and stood back up.

"You good?" she asked, seeing me stare blankly into space.

"Y-Yeah...don't worry about me." I said with the brush still stuck in my mouth.

"What was that?" she giggled. I shook my head and walked up to the sink, spitting out the toothpaste and rinsing.

"Alright then, where am I sleeping?" I asked.

"Isn't it obvious?" She motioned to the bed while searching through her dresser and pulling out a pair of yellow sleeping shorts.

"Well then, where are you sleeping?"

"Same place." She went into the bathroom before shutting the door part way.

"What?! Julia, we just met each other today! Please tell me you're not serious!"

"She came out in her tanktop and sleeping shorts, holding a yellow bra in her hand before adding it to her laundry pile.

"You don't want to?" she asked, somewhat disappointed.

"I mean…"

"So you DO want to!" She jumped up and down, laughing.

"Fine! Yes! Yes I want to! But why do YOU want to?! Like I said, we just met, and already you want to sleep with me?!"

"I think you could use a girlfriend."

"Girlfriend?"

"Mmhm~ Look, serious talk time." She walked up to me. "How many other people know about your family incident?"

"None. You're the first I told."

"Then it's good you did. Look, I'll keep your secret safe for as long as you want me to, but doesn't it make you feel a little better that someone else knows and can talk to you about these things?"

"...I guess….."

"Tell your other friends when you feel you're ready, but don't use it as an excuse to not tell them at all. You said you wanted to start a new life, but you're never going to be successful with that if you don't start opening up to people. Fern aside, don't you think that Ame would be supportive of you and try to help you?"

"I'm sure she would be."

"As am I. You asked me just before, right? Why I'm so cheerful?"

"You said it was because no one else is."

"Right! To make others happier! If you don't share these things with your friends, you won't become closer with them, and if you're not close with them, then what was the point of starting with a clean slate?"

"..."

"...Wouldn't your sister want you to do that?" His eyes softened as he suddenly hugged Julia, surprising her, but she then quickly returned the embrace.

"Now come on, let's get to bed~" she said, pulling back the covers and getting in. Vero took off his black coat and gray t-shirt, folding them up and putting them on the chair, as well as his shoes, socks, and pants, placing them nearby.

"You're sure you want to do this?"

"Yes. For the last time. Now come over here~" she sang. I sighed and walked over, getting into the other side. "Oh, one last thing. Hand me your Pokegear." I handed it to her from my nightstand and she typed into it before giving it back.

"That's my number. You can talk to me any time." I stared at it for a minute. Julia Wilde, with a heart emoji next to it. Actually, the only other contacts he had so far were Ame, as a default when he received it, and Victoria from when they were leaving. He'd have to ask Cain and Florinia for theirs next time he saw them. He couldn't care less about Fern.

"Alright. Goodnight." He placed it back on his night table and made himself comfortable.

"Goodnight." She wrapped her arm around him, snuggling in. "Do you mind if I do this?"

"You said you were my girlfriend, weren't you?" She giggled, wrapping her legs around his as well, and falling asleep.

 **X**

Sadly, Vero awoke to an empty bed. He hadn't slept that well in a long time. He stretched, then reached for his Pokegear, turning it on and looking at his texts. There was one from Julia that was timed about 15 minutes ago.

 **Went to open up the gym. Saved you some coffee if you want some. Come whenever you're ready, I'll be waiting. Love you~**

He sighed and placed it back before closing his eyes again, sleeping for another few minutes. After showering, getting changed, brushing his teeth and grabbing my pokemon, I grabbed my Pokegear and left for the gym. **[A/N: I know the original Pokegear is supposed to go on your wrist, but let's say that this model is a smartphone, just for ease of picturing texting and the other things it does.]**

The gym itself was set up in a straight line that branched off past each checkpoint. There were four barricades that led to a back room. The branched hallways led to trainers and a Voltorb. It was relatively simple to make it past the trainers. The Voltorbs used Self-Destruct when I brought them up to the barricades, destroying them. And after some rinsing and repeating, it was time for the battle with Julia.

The back room was fairly large, and would normally be plain looking, but because of his girlfriend's eccentric personality, the room was anything but. There was a large tile arena, which was lighting up yellow, as well as pink ribbons and star decorations strung up everywhere. Above where she was standing were 6 large pink banners. The first was blank, merely for decoration. The second had "KA" sewn into it, the third had "BO", the fourth had "OM", the fifth had three exclamation marks, and the final one was blank again.

"Hihi, Vero!" she greeted as I walked in.

"I see that you're quite the decorator."

"You like it~?"

"Yeah."

"This is your first time in here, right? Welcome to the Super-Duper Ultra-Hyper Electro-Dazzle Happy Boom-Time House of Cheer! Just ignore all the super lame machinery junk. I need more banners! And streamers! And...hm...Fireworks!"

"I'm not sure if fireworks are the best idea…" I sweatdropped.

"Anyway, don't think I'll go easy on you just because you helped us out earlier and because of last night! We may be together out there, but in here, I'm the Gym Leader! I have pride to uphold! As former captain cheerleader, the Onyx Trainers School's honor depends on me! OTS, we represent! We pack a punch and don't relent! All right, all right, all right! I'm wired so let's fight! Go, Helioptile!" She sent out her first pokemon.

"Espurr! Use Confusion!" Espurr was sent out and used its psychic powers to lift Helioptile into the air and slam it back down towards the ground.

"Charge Beam, before you hit!" It complied, and fired a beam of electricity from its mouth towards the psychic cat before it hit the ground.

"Dodge it!" I yelled, but the beam suddenly became faster and stronger, hitting Espurr hard.

'What was that?!'

"I know you were kind of out of it yesterday, but Florinia did give you information about how we Reborn Gym Leaders fight, right?" she called out.

'Shit, I forgot. Field Effects, right?' I looked around, seeing the machinery now activated and creating an electric current that ran through the field.

'And she even uploaded the data about it onto my Pokegear, too….' I shook my head, turning my attention back to the fight at hand.

"Light Screen!" Espurr created a barrier around itself.

"Thundershock!" Helioptile released a bolt of lightning that was blocked by the barrier somewhat. It still did damage, but significantly less compared to last time. Espurr recovered rather quickly.

"One more time, Confusion!" It used it again, and this time, Helioptile was knocked into one of the machines, defeating it.

"Oh no, return! Voltorb, you're next!"

"Let's keep going, Espurr!" It cried out in agreement.

"Sonic Boom!" She called out, the Voltorb creating shockwaves that destroyed Espurr's Light Screen and sent it flying back. Julia suddenly grinned.

'I know that look...is she…?'

"Go Kaboom, Voltorb! Explosion!" Despite only being a ball, Voltorb was actually very fast, and appeared behind Espurr before creating a huge explosion, knocking both it and Espurr out.

"Return!" we both called them back to their pokeballs.

"Alright then, Whismur!"

"Your turn, Emolga! Use Quick Attack!" The electric flying mouse flew at Whismur, getting ready to attack it.

"Whismur, dodge!" Unfortunately, Whismur was not fast enough to avoid the attack, and was knocked back.

"Emolga, Acrobatics!" It turned around and began getting faster.

'Whismur's never going to be fast enough to avoid these attacks by movement alone. I need to stop it without just dodging and attacking…'

"Whismur, Screech!" Whismur began having a tantrum, making extremely loud noise that hurt everyone's ears. Emolga suddenly stopped flying, and fell onto the floor, hitting it with a thud.

"Now Echoed Voice!" I ordered, as Whismur made another, higher-pitched scream that caused damage to it.

"Emolga, Charge Beam!" Emolga slowly got up and blasted a beam of electricity at Whismur, doing massive damage thanks to the field.

"Whismur, are you alright?!"

"Emolga, Acrobatics!" It swarmed around the young pokemon, hitting it multiple times, knocking it out.

"Tch! Whismur, return!"

'I wasn't really going to use these two, but it might be worth it just to get a few quick hits in before I use my ace.'

"Pidgeotto! Use Quick Attack!" Pidgeotto flew into Emolga, sending it back a bit.

"Emolga, Charge Beam!"

"Dodge it and use Quick Attack again!" It did as told and knocked Emolga into one of the machines, defeating it.

"Return! You're being kind of reckless, aren't you? Throwing out a Flying type to fight me?"

"I'll take any advantage I can get, frankly."

"Oh, really? Voltorb!" She sent out another one. "Spark!" Again, the Voltorb was extremely fast, and charged itself with electricity, smashing into Pidgeotto and shocking it, instantly defeating it.

"Return! Goldeen! Use Supersonic!" His water type was sent out and created a sound wave with its horn, confusing Voltorb.

"Voltorb, use Charge Beam!" But Voltorb, being confused, hurt itself instead.

"Goldeen, Horn Attack!" It rushed towards Voltorb and hit it with its horn, damaging it a little bit.

"Voltorb, Explosion!"

"Damn it! Goldeen, dodge!" Voltorb kept its mind this time, and began to detonate. The explosion took out both of them.

"Return!"

"Return~!" She laughed, clearly excited from the kaboom she just witnessed.

"Alright then. Charmeleon, let's finish this!" I sent out my deciding factor.

"Blitzle~!"

'She's saving her Electrode for last…'

"Blitzle, Quick Attack!" It rushed at Charmeleon and slammed into it, injuring it a little bit.

"Charmeleon, retaliate with Dragon Rage!" It used blue fire that instantly defeated Blitzle.

"Ahh! Blitzle?!" She returned it to its pokeball.

"This is my ace, Julia. I'm going to win."

"We'll see about that~ Electrode! Use Rollout!" Electrode had a reputation for being one of the fastest pokemon discovered thus far. Charmeleon was no match for its speed, and was hit three times, sending it flying into the electricity, making it take massive damage.

"Charmeleon! Are you alright?!" It slowly stood back up and nodded. "Dragon Rage!" Once again the blue fire was spewed, and hit Electrode, making it heavily injured too.

"Charge Beam!"

"Dragon Rage!" The two attacks collided, but Charmeleon gave its all, and ended up overcoming the other attack, defeating Electrode and Julia.

"Huh? I lost already?"

"Yes! Return! Nice job!" I brought it back to its pokeball, and she did the same.

"Mrrrrrr…..Whateverrrrr, I'm gonna go take a power nap."

"You can't be serious." I sweatdropped.

"Oh, right. Fiiine, take your whatchamacallit badge...Volt Badge." She handed it to me. "The thingamajigger badge makes stuff happen. Aaaaaand it also allows you to use the thing. I need coffee…"

"I thought you had some already this morning?"

"Well I need more...Oh! Here! Take this! Consider it a thanks for your help earlier." She handed me a yellow disc that had Charge Beam written on it. **[As with other badges, I'm sure you all know that the leaders in this game tell you up to what level your pokemon obey you and what TM you can use outside of battle. But those are elements of playing a game, and to the characters, they live in this world, so it wouldn't make sense if there were things like levels or having to wait to use a move out of battle. So, it will just be giving me their TM for the most part.]**

"It doesn't go boom, but it IS a useful move! Anyway, sleepies...Good night~"

"...Right here? Come on Julia, I'll bring you back to our place."

"Alright…" she muttered drowsily. She slipped her hand into mine and leaned on me as I led her out of the gym.

"Vero!" We stepped out of the front doors and saw Victoria standing at the gate.

"Victoria?"

"Did you just win your first badge? That's great!"

"Verooo...I wanna go home…" Julia whined.

"Oh...were you two busy with something?"

"I was just going to walk her home, she's exhausted."

"Oh, that's good of you. I was thinking about challenging Julia, but I heard something awful! Apparently something weird is happening in the Obsidia Ward. The plants are coming to life and attacking people."

"Plants attacking people?"

"Yeah. As soon as I heard, I knew I had to go over there and see if I can help! I'd stay and talk more, but I need to hurry! Bye!" She walked off towards Obsidia, and I brought Julia to our apartment. She took her shoes and coat off and fell back onto the bed.

"Wait...sleep with me~" she whined, as I got ready to head back out.

"I can't right now. You heard Victoria, I have to go help in Obsidia. I'll be back later tonight, then we can sleep, I promise." Vero walked over and kissed her before turning the light off and heading to the door. Her breathing got lighter, and he realized she was already asleep as he turned and looked at her one last time. His eyes widened when he realized that again, she wasn't wearing any panties, and her genitals were clearly in view, especially since her legs were spread.

'I can't wait for tonight.' He smiled, rolling his eyes back into his head and walking out the door, closing it behind him.

 **End.**

 **What did you think so far?**


	2. Julia

I pulled out my Pokegear and texted Victoria that I was on my way, then continued on to Obsidia. Walking past the Grand Hall and up onto the bridge, I noticed two policemen blocking the entrance to the ward, along with Florinia standing in front of them. I walked up.

"Civilian entry to this area is prohibited. Currently, we have a very volatile situation beyond here. Reborn Staff are currently working to resolve the issue. Please be patient."

"Vero. Greetings." Florinia greeted me. "However, my immediate departure is necessitated. Obsidia remains in a volatile condition. My attendance is mandatory. Farewell." One of the cops stepped out of the way. She walked a few steps before turning back to me.

"Reconsidering...Vero, are you attempting to access the Obsidia Ward? The area remains currently restricted for all outside civilians in reaction to the damage currently being inflicted. However, given the previous assistance granted at the factory, an exception may be possible." She turned to the officers. "This person may be able to assist the present situation in Obsidia. Is passage permissible?"

"Uhh, sure thing, Miss Florinia."

"Very well. Access granted. Situation briefing: An unknown force has recently begun continual engagement in the over-stimulation and manipulation of malignant floral life. Cause remains unknown, however precious incidences of this behavior have resulted in large-scale destruction. Objective: Isolate and eliminate the source of the extraneous growth immediately. The target area has been narrowed to the Obsidia Park, hosting the majority of floral species in the ward. Operation assets will assemble there. Do attend shortly. Farewell." She ventured into the ward.

'Geez, talking with her makes my head spin. I miss Julia already...oh well, maybe Victoria's nearby.' Vero walked into the Daycare building next to the Pokemon Center, where he discovered that the elderly couple running it were actually members of Team Meteor, and after defeating them, they fled. It turns out the real owners were kidnapped and locked up in a warehouse in the Coral Ward, but he'd have to look for the key later. For now, since two of the streets had collapsed in on themselves, the only way to go was through South Obsidia, the slums of the ward.

"Vero!" Victoria called out to him just as he was heading down the street.

"Victoria."

"I'm not sure what to do. The main road is blocked off thanks to the plants destroying the city...the only other way through is through the Obsidia Slums, down this way. I went in there, too, but it's dangerous! All these men kept trying to attack me, and it was like the debris in there was moving on its own! Vero, are you going to go through there?"

"Yes. I'll be fine, Victoria." She looked down, saddened.

"I was worried you would say that. Isn't there anything I can say to stop you? It's really not safe."

"...No."

"...Fine. If you think you're strong enough, then prove it to me! Battle?"

"...If there's no other way."

"Ralts!" She sent out a new pokemon of hers.

"Loudred. Use Astonish." Vero's now evolved pokemon shouted and attacked her Ralts, scaring and startling the timid pokemon, damaging it with a direct hit.

"Now Bite." Loudred ran and bit it, doing enough harm to defeat the creature.

"Return! Makuhita, you're next!"

"Return, Loudred. Espurr!"

"Makuhita, use Force Palm!" It ran up and knocked Espurr back with an open palm, inflicting a few wounds.

"Espurr, use Psybeam!" Espurr fired a multi-colored beam of energy at the fighting type, which did a lot, blasting it back into a building.

"Now Confusion." It made it hover before hitting it into the ground, defeating it.

"Return….." She looked at Vero, noticing anger in his eyes.

'What's happened to you…?' She asked herself. "Pignite!" She sent her main out.

"Again, Espurr! Psybeam!" Espurr fired another psychic beam at it, but it dodged by jumping up.

"Flame Charge!" Pignite fell down towards Espurr, covered in flames.

"Espurr, dodge and use Psybeam again!" But Pignite was too fast, and crashed into Espurr, making it faint.

"Return. Goldeen, Water Pulse." Vero sent out his water type, who blasted rings of water at it, dealing massive damage and defeating it.

"...Return." She muttered, as Vero closed his eyes and brought his own pokemon back. "Ah...maybe you'll be alright. Fine...Just promise me you'll be careful, okay? Keep a sharp eye. And, good luck."

" _...Vero. You need to let someone in. I know you mean well, but you've been distancing yourself from others. If you don't share these things with your friends, you won't become closer with them, and if you're not close with them, then what was the point of starting with a clean slate? Wouldn't your sister want you to do that?"_

Julia's words rang in his head.

"Victoria! Wait….."

"Hm?" She turned around. "What is it?"

"Why don't you come with me? I could use the company." he smiled.

"...Really?"

"Really really." He held out his hand. "Come on." She gave a small smile and took his hand with her own. They started walking down the street.

"...Sorry about before. I wasn't thinking straight."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"Let's just say that Team Meteor brings up some bad memories of home."

"Oh...trouble with another group like them?"

"Yeah...my family was wiped out by a team similar to these guys. That's why I came here in the first place. To start over…"

"Oh, Vero...I'm sorry. I didn't know…" She squeezed his hand tighter and hugged him.

"Come on, it's all in the past. We need to focus on the present and stopping Team Meteor."

"Yeah…" We walked into an old run-down building, where a few trainers tried to battle us, but were quickly disposed of. In the back were stairs that led up to the next floor.

"The floor is shattered. We'll have to jump across what's left." Vero started, holding out his hand for Victoria, who jumped across and took it. They repeated this process throughout the room, and came across a box that suddenly moved away from them quickly.

"Kyaaa!" she squealed, holding onto him.

"So that's what you meant by moving debris."

"Uh huh…..Hey, so…."

"Mm?"

"It's totally fine if you don't want to talk about it, but...what happened back at home? In Hoenn?"

"..."

"...I'm sorry for bringing it up. I won't again-"

"No no, it's alright. You have a right to know. But, don't tell anyone else. I will when the time is right."

"Of course."

"Okay. So there were these two groups, they called themselves Team Magma and Team Aqua. Team Magma wanted to dry up the sea so that only land pokemon would exist, and Team Aqua wanted to expand the sea to cover up the land. These were their ideas of a perfect world."

"But no life can exist with just one or the other, you need both!"

"Exactly, they were idiots. To accomplish their goals, they revived the two legendary pokemon, Groudon and Kyogre. When the two were revived, a massive storm started. Multiple natural disasters including earthquakes, typhoons, volcanic eruptions, and hurricanes. My father was a policeman, meaning that he had to confront them head on, as part of his job. He was killed by one of their admins. My mother was away in a different city, visiting a friend. When she left to come home that night, she was struck by lightning and subsequently drowned. That just left me with my sister for a while."

"I'm so sorry…" she sobbed.

"About two years ago now, a masked and armed assailant broke into our house and killed her. That left me alone. I saved up the money I made from my job as well as the money I inherited from her to come here and start a new life. And I think you know the rest from there."

"And your first experience here was an exploding train...Vero, I can't believe you've been through all of this."

"Yeah, that was rather unfortunate. And I wasn't expecting something as bad as a terrorist attack, but I purposely came to Reborn to try and help the people here, and clean up the city. That's what I'm here to do, and right now, that means stopping Team Meteor." We continued jumping across the floor, until we came to another staircase, this time going down. We came into a much smaller room, with another upwards staircase to the right, and an opening in the wall right below it.

"Which way?" she asked. As soon as she said it, another box moved into the opening.

"The hole." We walked in, finding the box blocking another entrance, and yet another staircase to the left. We went up there first, finding nothing but another TM, for Quash.

"Whatever was in here, it's gone. It's just a box now."

"I wonder if it fled into here?" We moved the box and walked into the hole, finding another broken floor, and more steps to cross.

"You stay here this time. I'll be right back." Jumping across the ledges only led back to the main entrance, where an abandoned pokemon egg was. Vero took it, and went back to Victoria.

"Did you find it?"

"No. It must have gone the other way." We went back and up the other staircase, going out a doorway and onto the roof of the building.

"We're right above where we came in." She looked over the edge. It was now raining lightly.

"Vero, over there!" She walked over to the other side and bent forward, looking into North Obsidia and the park. As Vero walked up to her, he noticed that Victoria's robe and skirt had been brushed to the side, displaying the outline of her ass in her leggings. He yelled at himself that he was dating Julia, but he couldn't look away. It was right in front of him, teasing him, begging him to touch it. But Victoria was such a sweet girl...but it was so big and luscious…

"Vero."

"Huh?! What?!"

"Are you alright? You see the park from here, right?"

"Oh, yeah. We have to get over there. Let's get going, if we keep standing out here, we're going to get soaked.

"Yeah." she nodded, walking towards the other side of the roof, where a door led into a new section of the building.

It taunted him. He hadn't realized it before, but Victoria was more well-endowed than she seemed. And it was subtle, but with every step it slightly jiggled as her hips swayed.

'Fuck me, I wish I could have more than one girlfriend.' he mentally groaned.

Beyond the door were more ledges that we jumped across, and came to another black box that was blocking our way further in. I tapped it with my foot before it started to move and growl, before running away. Victoria jumped into me, squealing.

"How are you not used to this yet?"

"It startled me, okay?!" she yelled, blushing. "N-Now come on. Let's go catch it." She crossed her arms and pouted.

"Heh." Vero followed her, going through the next door. There was a door at the back that was a narrow path, with a locked gate stopping us from going further. The only other way was a downward staircase to the left.

"Kya~!" she squealed as I quickly grabbed her and rushed over to the wall, holding my hand over her mouth.

"Shhh...look." I pointed through an opening in the wall, where we could see a Scraggy walking into the end of the complex.

"Next time warn me when you're going to do something like that!" she whispered, bending down and watching. Vero could feel her butt pressing against his crotch. He really had to try not to be aroused.

"Alright, it's gone. Let's go." We stood up and went around the wall, where a door led into another room.

'I could have sworn he liked me doing that…' she thought to herself before shaking those thoughts out of her head. Walking through the entryway, we saw three Scraggys and a Scrafty confronting us.

"Are you ready?"

"Yeah. Makuhita!"

"Pancham!" Vero threw out his new pokemon that he caught in the building. "Use Arm Thrust!"

"Do the same, Makuhita!" The two beat up two of the Scraggy.

"Force Palm!" Makuhita took out the third.

"Finish that one with Force Palm!"

"Karate Chop, Pancham! The two hit the Scrafty together, knocking it into the barricade blocking the exit to the building.

"Yes! Return!" We brought them back to our pokeball, and Victoria hugged me, jumping up and down and cheering.

"...Scrafty." The pokemon stood up and pressed a switch that made the wall deactivate, letting us go further. It went into the door, disappearing into the darkness.

We looked back at each other, looking into the other's eyes, her arms around his neck and his arms around her waist.

"Ah…! I'm sorry!" she blushed heavily, breaking away from me.

"No, don't be. It's alright." We walked through the doorway awkwardly. We stood in the final room silent, looking at the exit to the east side of Obsidia.

"Look, Vero…" she began.

"No, I'm the one who should be apologizing. I know it's only been a day since we started, but I'm dating Julia already. I shouldn't have-"

"You are? Already? Are you sure you want to rush into it like that?"

"You don't like the idea?"

"No, it's not that!" She waved her hands. "I'm...extremely happy for you, but...I don't know. Listen, I should just...I'm gonna go back and see if I can help the west side."

"Are you sure? It's a long way back and it's dangerous."

"Yeah, but we just beat all of those trainers, so it should be fine now...text me later, okay?"

"...Yeah. Call me if anything goes wrong."

"Okay." She walked away and started going back the way we came. Vero on the other hand kept going, coming out onto a destroyed street. He walked up to two policemen blocking his way.

"Florinia gave me permission to help out."

"I'm afraid that this area's far more dangerous than the others so far. You'll have to have a League Official vouch for you to keep going."

"I already did!"

"WITH YOU." They said forcefully. "Take refuge in the Coral Ward until this issue resolves itself."

"..." Vero walked away angrily and went south, into the Coral Ward. The place was destroyed and abandoned, save for a few people that were looking for some quiet. The only noticeable landmarks were a Pokemon Center and a few warehouses. Other than that, just one or two regular apartments or houses. He sighed and walked over to the docks, where he saw a teal-haired woman standing. She seemed to be staring at something; an Oshawott over by the lighthouse, unable to cross over.

"What's going on here?"

"Oh, hello!" She turned and looked at him. He felt his heartbeat speed up to near impossible rates.

'Reborn, why must you have so many beautiful women? And after I just saw Victoria too…'

This woman was by far the prettiest one he had seen so far. She seemed to be around Julia's age, like 21 or so. She wore blue boots and tight black leggings that actually gave her a bit of a camel toe. Around her waist was a purple skirt with light blue trim at the bottom of it, but completely open in the front, displaying her legs and crotch area, which is why she wore the yoga pants of course. She wore a dark blue short sleeve blouse that was partly open, displaying a small bit of her cleavage, going up to her neck. She also wore two blue bracelets on her wrists, one of them looking extremely special, while the other one seemed like something you could find in a store. Although the most striking thing about her was her long teal hair. She curled the sides up from her shoulders down. It went down to her lower back, but as much as he hated to admit it, Vero had to keep looking at her gracious gifts. Her snug nether region, her large breasts, her firm ass…

"What's your name?" he asked somewhat quickly.

"Sorry, could you hold? That Oshawott is trapped over there and I need to get it to safety."

"Oh, right." He turned and looked across at the pokemon.

"I'm a Water Pokemon Trainer, but if any pokemon touches the lake, it's going to be seriously hurt!"

"Heyyyy, Vero." Finally, a voice he recognized. They turned to watch Cain walking over.

"Hmmm~? Making friends in high places, are we?"

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"Ahaha, I wouldn't necessarily say 'high places'." the young woman responded. God, even her voice was like an angel's. And unlike Julia or Florinia, she wasn't overly excited or completely emotionless.

"Vero, you look a little lost. This is Amaria, one of the highest-ranking Gym Leaders in Reborn!"

'THIS CHICK IS A GODDESS!' He screamed inside of his head, his subconscious jumping up and down excitedly. 'Amaria is her name, huh? Beautiful...and she's one of the top leaders in Reborn to boot. She really is an angel...actually, she might be able to help me out with the guards up there.'

"You really didn't know?" Cain brought him back to reality.

"No." he said, turning to her. "How would I, I've only been here for a day."

"Really, it's no big deal. More importantly, we need to figure out what to do about Oshawott." She reminded them why they were there.

"Oshawott? Ohhh, is it trapped there? And here I thought you two were just staring off into the sunset together~" he teased.

'Jesus Christ, I wish.' Vero rolled his eyes.

Amaria completely ignored the comment. "If it can't get out of here, it'll be in serious trouble!"

'She might be harder to get than I thought…'

"Nah."

"What?"

"~You're not alone, so have no doubt, we'll put our heads together, gonna figure this out~"

"Why are you singing?" she asked.

"Grimer, I choose you!" His pokemon appeared next to him. "~In no time, we'll be at your side! We're a team on a roller coaster ride~Each one of us knows just what to do~And we're never gonna stop-gonna stop-searching for you~Heyy, Oshawott, hop on!" He called out. While he was singing, the Grimer had crossed the brown river with ease. It did so happily, and was carried back while Cain finished his song.

"That was fantastic!" she praised him.

"Yeahhh, I get that a lot. Usually from boys though. Great work, Grimer! You can return now. Welllll, your Oshawott is a-okay. Later, then~" As he started walking away, the Oshawott followed him, crying out.

"Aww, he seems to have taken a liking to you." she said in a singsong voice.

"Huh? Well he's a cute little guy, but I usually make a point to stick to Poison types. Sorry, little one." He started walking again, but the young pokemon still followed him.

"Heyyy, you don't listen, do you?" he turned around again.

"I dunno, he seems pretty set on coming with you."

"Yeah. Can't you make an exception, just this once?" Vero asked.

"Fiiine, the pretty girl gets it her way~" Amaria giggled. Holy fuck, she was cute. "Still, Oshawott seems a bit jittery to me. Heyy, heyy, no reason to jitter, jitterbug, you're in good hands~"

"Maybe it would do Oshawott some good if it had a battle?" she suggested. The Oshawott cried in excitement. "Well it certainly seems enthusiastic! Vero-that was your name, right?"

"Yeah."

"Would you be willing to give this little guy a workout?"

"Sure."

"I've heard worse ideas. Well, Vero, here's our rematch~ Grimer!"

"Espurr!" We sent them both out.

"Grimer, use Sludge!"

"Dodge it and use Psybeam!" Espurr avoided the attack and fired a beam of psychic energy at the pile of poison. It damaged it heavily, and even confused it.

"Grimer, Mud-Slap!" But it hurt itself, and was knocked out. "Return! Go, Venonat!"

"Espurr, Psybeam again." It complied, and this time, defeated it in one hit.

"Return! Nidorino!" He sent out his strongest. "Use Fury Attack!" Espurr was hit twice by Nidorino's horn, doing a little bit.

"Psybeam!" Espurr fired another beam, inflicting a lot of harm. "Confusion." Espurr made it float before getting slammed back into a building, knocking it out.

"Return! Oshawott!"

"Espurr, Charge Beam." Espurr now fired a beam of electricity that easily defeat Oshawott."

"Ah...return." he brought it back.

"Return, Espurr." I brought it back to its pokeball. "Sweep." I smirked, turning to Amaria.

"Well well, this adventure's heating up~"

"I didn't expect Oshawott to be on the losing side! I'm sorry, I didn't realize how strong Vero was."

"Well, Vero's full of surprises, and in all the right ways~"

"Hey!" I turned to him.

"That saiiid, I gotta get back to the Wasteland. I told my sis I'd meet her out there, and then totally got sidetracked. Somehow I didn't think I'd accidentally pick up an Oshawott of all things. Oh well~Oh, Vero. Last time, I didn't give you my number, did I?"

Vero took out his Pokegear and handed it to him, as he input himself into the contacts list. He waved goodbye and headed back to Obsidia, leaving Vero alone with Amaria.

"That's a relief. I hope he takes great care of it."

"He will. Despite sticking to Poison types, he's not the kind of trainer to pay any less attention to that Oshawott."

"That's good. I should probably get back to the Obsidia Ward. I kind of left Rini hanging, huh?"

"Rini? You know her nickname? Or one of them, at least?"

"Oh, you know Florinia? Ah! You're the one she said helped at the factory! Well, what are you doing all the way down here?"

"The guards wouldn't let me in without a League Official." he sighed.

"Oh, I can help you out with that. Come on. We should both get back to the park before it gets much worse!"

"Actually, you go on ahead. I should heal my pokemon first. But promise you'll talk to them for me?"

"Of course. Come soon, okay?"

"Be right there." She went back to Obsidia as well, while Vero went into the center and healed them before going back as well. Thankfully, the two guards had left and were nowhere to be seen. He spotted Amaria and Florinia standing in front of the park. He walked up to them.

"Oh, Vero! Glad you found us!"

"Yes. Greetings again."

"We were waiting for you. Now that you're here, let's get started! These trees are blocking the way into the park, but fortunately, they can be cut down!" She handed me a disc that had the word Cut written on it.

"Oh, great. I know about this one. It's an HM, right?"

"HM? Oh, you're from a region that's still stuck on those? Blegh, we formatted them so that they can be forgotten just like any regular old move. We call them TMXs."

"Oh thank god." She giggled happily.

"Well, that should do the trick! Mind leading the way?"

"Sure. Charmeleon." Vero brought out his main and taught it Cut in exchange for forgetting Scratch. It cut down the tree that was blocking the way.

"Very well. Let us proceed." The two walked into the park before screaming.

"Hey, what is this?! No, no, stop! Ah-!" Vero ran after them, finding them restrained in vines, with a black haired individual standing in front of a large machine with a Tangrowth forcefully hooked up to it.

The person, who appeared to be a man, wore gray shoes and gray pants, a black shirt, and a black cloak clipped over it, while they wore the hood. They had medium length hair and striking yellow eyes.

"I TOLD you they would get here too soon! If you had made this machine go faster…" An angry and annoyed voice said.

"No! Tangrowth wouldn't be able to take anymore!" The same person said it, but was a different voice, this time more cheery and encouraging.

"The speed has already been optimized. Be glad the pokemon was able to capture those girls." A third voice said, seemingly the smartest, demonstrated by their vocabulary.

"You're really strong to be able to do everything so well, Tangrowth!" the happy voice said again.

"Hey! How much longer are we gonna ignore the other problem?" the first voice complained. They turned around and looked at me.

"Oh, hello. Um, my name is Lumi-" The cheery one said.

"Only three of you entered? We expected more. Three are easy to deal with." The unemotional, scientific voice spoke again.

"Um, it might be more polite if we introduce ourselves. I'm-"

"You've already introduced yourself, Lumi. Needlessly, at that! I, however, am Zero." The powerful angry voice answered.

"I am Eve. Collectively, we are referred to as ZEL."

'Multiple personalities…' Vero thought to himself.

"And we're not gonna let you touch the PULSE!" Zero yelled.

"Pulse?"

"But that's probably what you came here for, right? All of the growth here is a result of this machine. And Eve built it all by herself!" Lumi said happily.

"Correct. The Link System is a simple hybridization-amplification mechanic."

"So with the machine behind it, it can manipulate even the smallest root into a massive arbor wrecking ball!" Zero laughed. "Think you can stop it? Just try!" The Tangrowth broke out of the machine and faced off against Vero.

"Pidove! Use Air Cutter!" The small bird created an air stream that cut up the large pokemon a bit. But it started to absorb energy, and evolved into a further form. It grew bigger, and some of its vines stood up and went wild, waving around. It's arms transformed into claws, with metal armplates on it as well.

"Tangrowth, Mega Drain." It complied, sucking Pidove's life force up.

"Pidove, Air Cutter again!" It hit it again, but despite being a flying type move, it still didn't do that much harm to the creature.

"Tangrowth, Vine Whip." Its vines smacked Pidove across the park, hitting the fence, and knocking it out already.

"Return!"

'That thing's stronger than I thought.'

"Espurr! Psybeam!" It used its strongest move and did a decent amount of damage to it.

"Tangrowth, Mega Drain then Vine Whip." It sucked out its life force, then smacked it against the fight again.

"Return, Espurr. Charmeleon! Use Ember!" Charmeleon heavily injured Tangrowth with a blast of fire. "Now Dragon Rage!" It used blue fire that defeated it, making ZEL return it to its pokeball.

"This is why you shouldn't talk so much, Lumi!"

"Zero, next time, rather than showing off the mission's keystone, let's fight with our own pokemon." Eve suggested.

"I'm sorry, Tangrowth...I should have intervened." Lumi said sadly.

"Stop yelling at me! You said this machine was supposed to make it stronger!"

"Your misjudgement was the key factor. Regardless, with Tangrowth incapacitated, the malignant growth will now regress."

"So it's all going to go back to normal?"

"Correct. So there's no longer any purpose to remaining here. Recover the model, and escape at once."

"Hey, Vero, right? Don't think this is over." Zero threatened, collecting the machine and leaving. The vines and trees disappeared thanks to the defeat of their pokemon. The two girls were released from their vine restraints, landing on the ground.

"...Ah! I can breathe! Those vines grabbed us as soon as we got close...they were choking me the whole time. I'm sorry I wasn't much help. But you cleared the whole thing yourself, Vero? I'm impressed!"

"I did what I had to."

"Presumably that person, if they can be referred to as a single subject, was an operator of Team Meteor. I project that our observances do not compose the entirety of their assault."

"I think so too! A lot of bad things have been happening lately. Between the Jasper and Beryl Wards, Azurine Lake, Grandview Station and now this...Team Meteor might be a bigger threat than any of us had imagined."

"Bastards...I'll kill them all…" Amaria noticed this.

"I'm going to go report this to Ame, and hopefully we'll figure out what to do. Thanks so much for your help, Vero! We couldn't have done it without you! Here." She walked up and put herself into my contacts list in my Pokegear. "Call me if you need something. Bye, Rini!" She waved, going back to Opal.

"Very well. The immediate crisis is resolved. I will be returning to my gum in the Onyx Ward. Vero, your attendance will be expected at your leisure. Farewell." Florinia went north into the Onyx Ward.

"I guess I should head to Onyx then."

 **X**

Amaria just finished delivering her report to Ame, and left the Grand Hall.

'The Peridot Ward isn't far from here. Maybe I should visit Julia.' She walked to her complex and used her spare key to open it and go up to her friend's home. When there was no answer after knocking, she turned the knob to find it open. Julia was still sleeping. Amaria sat down on the recliner opposite the bed. A few minutes later, Julia woke up.

"Mmm...ahhhhhh~" she stretched, before realizing who was there.

"AMYYYYYYY~!" she screamed, tackling her into the chair.

"H-Hey, J-Julia…" she choked out, getting crushed.

"What are you doing here?!"

"I was in the area, and decided to stop by. How are you?"

"Great~ Better than ever, actually! I have a boyfriend!"

"What?! Who?!"

"His name's Vero. He's so hottt~!"

"Vero? HE'S your boyfriend?"

"You've seen him?"

"I literally just met him."

"Well, what did you think~?"

"Haha, yeah, he's cute. He's strong too. But he seems to be quite bothered by Team Meteor for some reason."

"Ah, yeah. He has a thing about them."

"What is it?"

"Sorry, but that's not my place to say. He's going to tell others when he's ready."

"I see…"

"How have things been with you?"

"...Could be better, actually. Tania's been distant lately. It's like whenever I try to spend time with her, she brushes me off."

"So what is it?"

"I don't know. I'm starting to think that she doesn't like me the way that I do...maybe what I need is a man after all…"

"If that's the case, I think I might have a solution. If you want, I'll talk to Vero about going on a few dates with you~" she smirked.

"What?! B-But Julia! Won't that be like cheating on you?!"

"Not if I say it's okay. If he leaves me for you, then I'll consider it cheating. But as long as he still comes back sometimes, then what harm is there?"

"And do you think he'd be okay with that?"

"Are you kidding? You're gorgeous, what guy wouldn't want you?!" she smirked, making Amaria blush.

"I'll ask him tonight when he gets back."

"Are you really sure about this?"

"Again, what's the harm? I'll explain it to him in full."

"Thank you, Julia."

"No problem~ You're my friend, and I love you!"

"Love you too." she smiled, hugging her goodbye.

 **X**

Vero found the key to the warehouses in Coral Ward in the abandoned building in the park. He let the kidnapped daycare couple go, and then headed up through Onyx, where he played a few games at the Arcade before getting frustrated and leaving, and going up to the gym. Outside, he learned from a few of the students that Julia, Florinia, Amaria, and another girl named Titania were all once roommates at the Onyx Trainers' School, but kind of grew apart after they graduated. Amaria and Titania still lived together, but somewhat cut contact with the other two. He walked into the west entrance of the building, where he found Fern waiting for him.

"Vero."

"Fern."

"A little birdie told me you were coming here to challenge my sister. But see, I know you Vero."

"Do you?"

"Yes, and you don't deserve to challenge her. You're not good enough. And I'm not going to let you. Trey, go tell the other kids not to let Vero in." He ordered two students behind him. "Skye, go hit the switch for the gate."

"You conceited bastard." Vero growled.

"It's not like I'm trying to stick up for the Flobot. But it's a matter of our family, and our school's pride. And you're not worthy." The gate shut, and he walked away out of sight. Vero, finding an easy solution in Fern's 'Master Plan', simply went back out and into the east entrance instead. Sure, he had to battle loads of trainers to unlock the gates, but he needed to hurry up and beat Florinia to get back to Julia. After all, it was already sundown. Fern sighed as I walked up to him.

"Those dumb kids can't do anything, can they?"

"You think that you'll fare any better. I'm kind of in a hurry."

"Oh really? Look, Vero, really, don't take it personally, you're just a loser. Plain and simple. So really, by not letting you embarrass yourself in our gym, I'm doing you a favor."

"..."

"And you won't even thank me! But it's fine. I got ya. Now, just turn around, go home, and give up."

"You're the loser Fern. You and I are somewhat similar. You see, in a sense, we were both born with silver spoons in our mouth. But the difference between us is that I don't have one stuck there still."

"...Yeah, I didn't really think you'd be smart enough to listen to me. Fine, have it your way man. Lombre, take care of him."

"Tranquill."

"Lombre, Fake Out!" It rushed at Tranquill and smacked it across the face, making it flinch. "Now use Nature Power!"

"Dodge it and use Air Cutter." It flew up and whipped up a whirlwind, cutting Lombre and knocking it against the wall.

"Do it again."

"Nature Power!" Lombre recovered and turned its move into Tri Attack, firing a ball of fire, lightning and ice towards the bird.

"Dodge it!" Tranquill moved out of the way and used Air Cutter again, defeating Lombre.

"Return. Servine." Fern said angrily. "Use Leech Seed." Servine spit out seeds that stuck to Tranquill and slowly sapped its strength, while Servine gained some of its own back.

"Tranquill, use Air Cutter!"

"Dodge and use Leaf Tornado." This time, Fern had the upper hand, as his pokemon was fast enough to dodge Tranquill and injure it with its strongest move, while also getting health taken away thanks to Leech Seed.

"Use Mega Drain. Destroy it!" Servine sapped the last of Tranquill's strength, defeating it.

"Return. Charmeleon, go! Use Ember!" Charmeleon was sent out and heavily injured Servine with a blast of fire.

"Mega Drain!"

"Don't let it! Ember again!" Charmeleon's Ember completely overtook Servine's attack and defeated it.

"Return. Roselia!" He growled, sending out his main. "Mega Drain!"

"Ember again" Charmeleon once again took his pokemon down effortlessly.

"Finish this with Dragon Rage!" It changed its fire to blue, and defeated it, making Fern bring it back to its pokeball, standing there in a pure rage.

"You're infuriating, really. You think you're SO cool, just because you're doing the whole Gym League thing, huh? No, you know what? Two can play at that game, Vero. If a second rate trainer like you can do it, I won't have any problem sweeping the Reborn League. I should thank you, Vero. But I'm not going to. I've got things to do. Later, loser!" He purposely bumped into me on the way out, before Vero grabbed his shoulder and spun him around.

"What makes you think you're so great, Fern? Explain it to me."

"Isn't it obvious? I don't want to be stuck here forever, so I'm trying to become a trainer that has more opportunities. A strong one."

"Well you're going about it the wrong way. You think that the Gym Leaders, the Elite Four, and the Champion got their positions because they're arrogant like you?! If you try taking on the League right now, you'll do nothing but fail. Hell, you can't even beat me this way." That sent him over the edge. He grabbed me and punched me across the face, making me land on the ground before I stood up, punched him right back and slammed him up against the wall by his collar.

"What would you know about anything?! I've had to live in the shadow of my sister for my entire life, so don't go telling me how to become a trainer!"

"You think she would be proud of you if you wanted to prove yourself this way?! Right now, you're just acting like a jerk to everybody around you, bragging about how you're the best! If you keep doing things this way, then you'll have no one left standing with you."

"Who says I want anyone to stand with me? My sister is nothing but a robot, and I don't care for her."

"..." Vero dropped him, and started walking towards the gym leader's room. "Trust me, Fern. This comes from experience, and I hate to use a cliché line like this, but you don't know what you have until it's gone. Fine, I won't stop you from becoming the trainer that you want to be. But know that as long as you take your family for granted, you will never be able to defeat me."

"...This isn't over." He walked away, and Vero continued into the Gym Leader's room, where Florinia stood at the other side of the arena, a sandpit. Over on the side was an elevated viewing area, where many students sat on the bleachers.

Vero took a deep breath before approaching her.

"Welcome, Vero. Your assistance in Meteor-related affairs is appreciated, however, that alone fails to merit the appropriation of a badge. In order to determine eligibility for badge ownership, further testing is required. Do not mistake the impartial application of these tests as unthankfulness. It is simply procedure. Accordingly, let us begin."

"I wouldn't have it any other way. Julia said the same thing when I faced her." I said, walking over to my spot.

"Audience, please take notes on standard battling procedure. The demonstration will commence. Hypothesis: Subject possesses insufficient data for conclusive results. Expected outcome: Failure. Maractus!"

"Tranquill! Use Air Cutter!" Tranquill stirred up wind again that did a fair bit of damage on Maractus.

"Maractus, Needle Arm." Maractus jumped up and slammed its spiked arm down into the sand.

"Tranquill, use Air Cutter again!" It obeyed, and knocked Maractus out.

"Return. Ferroseed. Use Sandstorm." Ferroseed made the sand in the arena begin to swirl around, making it harder to see.

"Tranquill, return! Charmeleon!" Vero sent out his main. "Use Ember!" The flames burned through the wind of the sandstorm, stopping it, and also destroyed Ferroseed in one hit, due to it being 4x effective.

"Return. Cottonee. Use Nature Power." Nature Power turned into Sand Tomb, thanks to the Desert Field Effect, and surrounded Charmeleon, heavily injuring it.

"Use Dragon Rage!"

"Protect." Cottonee protected itself, and then used Nature Power again, hurting Charmeleon even more.

"Charmeleon, Ember!" The fire lizard fired a powerful burst of flame that landed a critical hit on Cottonee, defeating it.

"Return. Breloom, go. Use Headbutt." Breloom slammed Charmeleon back at a blinding speed, defeating it. 

"Return! Tranquill, it's you again! Air Cutter!" Tranquill flapped its wings, creating wind that sliced up Breloom, damaging it a lot thanks to its 4x weakness to flying.

"Breloom, Headbutt!" Breloom jumped up and knocked itself into Tranquill, making it fly back.

"Tranquill, Air Cutter again!" The bird complied, defeating Breloom with the razor sharp breeze.

"Return. Cacnea. Use Needle Arm." Cacnea jumped up and punched Tranquill towards the ground.

"Finish it with Pin Missile." The pokemon fired the spikes from its arm like bullets, piercing Tranquill and defeating it. It had already taken a lot of damage from the headbutts, and from its previous battles against Maractus and Ferroseed.

"Return. Espurr! Use Psybeam!" Espurr dealt a massive blow to Cacnea with Psybeam, sending it flying back.

"Use it again!"

"Cacnea, Pin Missile!" Cacnea fired four shots at Espurr that injured it, but the Psybeam knocked it out.

"Return, Cacnea. Well done making it this far. But this is the end. Cradily." She sent out her strongest pokemon.

"Alright Espurr. Psybeam!"

"Smack Down." Cradily lifted itself and then slammed back down onto the ground, making a large rock fly up from the sand before it smacked across the arena with its head, hitting Espurr head on and knocking it out. The Psybeam still hit, but Florinia just had it use Recover to get rid of the damage.

"Return, Espurr!"

'Goldeen won't do shit in this match. And since Smack Down is a rock type move, it would destroy Pidgeotto...although it might not hurt to use Sand Attack once or twice for the last fight.'

"Alright, Pidgeotto! Sand Attack!" The bird cried out and kicked sand into Cradily's face, making it harder for the large pokemon to see.

"Cradily, Smack Down." Cradily tossed another rock, hitting Pidgeotto and knocking it to the ground.

"One more time, Pidgeotto!" It did it again, only succeeding in making Cradily angrier.

"Smack Down again, finish it." Another rock hit Pidgeotto, and defeated it.

"Return, Pidgeotto! Good job! Let's finish this, Pancham! Arm Thrust!" Pancham ran towards it and hit it five times, doing good damage.

"Cradily, Sandstorm!"

"Karate Chop!" Pancham ignored the sand blowing in its face and followed through with its attack, hurting the pokemon even further.

"Cradily, Recover!"

"Pancham, Arm Thrust!" Pancham hit Cradily four times this time, making it a little bit tired.

"Cradily, Smack Down!"

"Dodge it and use Arm Thrust again!" Pancham, being small and quick, was able to dodge Cradily's attack quite easily and delivered three more blows unto its opponent.

"Finish this with Karate Chop!" It jabbed its hand into Cradily's body, sending it flying back and hitting the wall, unconscious.

"Return, Pancham! You were awesome!"

"Return, Cradily…..very well. Challenger remains due to receive Canopy Badge." She handed my second badge to me.

"As per custom, accept this TM." She handed me a gray colored disc that had Nature Power written on it. "Nature Power varies based on the terrain and Field Effects in which it is used. To use it effectively, one must exercise proper knowledge and understanding-a staple of an effective trainer. Use it wisely. Where do you intend to go next?"

"I'm not really sure."

"If you do not have other intentions, I have one final request for you. Because of my status as Leader and faculty at this school, I cannot stray far from it right now. However, there is still a crisis in this city. As you no doubt know, the Jasper and Beryl Wards have been ransacked by the same machination as Obsidia. However, whereas we caught Obsidia in a budding state, were not so fortunate with those wards. Being that you alone have had the successful experience of terminating the previously active project, I ask you venture to the Jasper Ward. Discover if there is not a similar plot behind the destruction there. If you will acquiesce, I have created another application that may be of service to you."

Vero handed her his Pokegear, and after a minute or two, she handed it back to him with a new app installed.

"Pulse Dex?"

"This will install to your Pokegear, and will read data output from the PULSE Machine we encountered before. I have already entered the data obtained regarding the Tangrowth you engaged, but any future subjects must be added separately. It may be possible to find data print-outs for each machine in an area near their application, so remain watchful."

"Right…"

"I will make preparations for your passage to Jasper. I might wish you good luck, however, luck is merely an illusory essentialization of statistics, and is neither inherently good nor bad."

"It's fine. I agree."

"Yes. Now as I understand, you have a date with Julia?"

"She told you?"

"I imagine that I don't know nearly as much as you do. But, if you are dating her, I would try to get as much sleep as possible. She's a wild one." she smiled for the first time.

"Yeah, I know." he laughed.

"Regardless, farewell. And thank you for your help, again."

"Anytime." He waved goodbye, heading out to go back home and claim his real prize.

 **X**

"Hey, Julia? I'm back…" He threw his coat onto the chair, finding her lying on the bed, again with no panties on.

"Vero~! How was Obsidia?"

"Ravaged. Team Meteor's work again, but I took care of it. After that, I went to Onyx and fought Fern and Florinia." He held up his second badge.

"Good for you~" She hugged him and kissed his cheek as he sat on the bed. "Hey...what's this?"

"Huh? What's what?"

"You have a red mark here, on your face. Did you hit something?"

"Yeah, Fern and I kind of got into a fight."

"What? Oh, come on, you should know not to pay him any mind. I don't want you getting hurt…"

"It's alright, Julia. Besides, you'd be angry if you heard what he said too."

"Well, what did he say?"

"...He said that he was going to take on the Reborn League just to spite me, and that he didn't care if Florinia stood by him or not."

"Well then he's an idiot. As much as she doesn't seem like it, she cares very much for him."

"You read my mind." She sighed and laid back.

"But, anyway, I think you deserve a reward for saving Obsidia and beating Rini~So before we get to that, I was going to take a shower. Want to join me~?"

"Yes!" He said excitedly, making Julia giggle. He'd been waiting for this all day. Julia walked into the bathroom and stripped all of her clothes off, turning on the shower, while Vero stayed in the bedroom and took all of his off. He walked into the bathroom, and found her standing just outside of the glass door, feeling the temperature with her hand. Her hair was down again, reaching to her mid-back. Her ass was right there in front of him, and he could just about see her C cup breasts from the angle that she was standing, but he was dying to see her most sacred part. Especially that he had seen it twice now, though she was not aware, this time it would be on full display, and be his for the taking.

"You're thinking that I didn't know~?" she cooed.

"Huh?" She turned around, smirking when she saw him without anything on as well.

"Is that what you're thinking about? Ravaging my vulva?"

"H-How did you-?"

"I didn't wear any underwear on purpose, silly~! I wanted you to see it those two times."

"But why?"

"It was a test. To see if you could control your urges. And you did. Now you get your reward." she smirked, licking her lips. She opened the sliding glass door and stepped in, Vero going in after, and shutting it. The shower was fairly big, with enough room for both of them to stand comfortably. She picked up the body wash and squeezed the bottle, splashing some into her hand, then handing the bottle to Vero. He began using it as well.

"So, I heard you met Amy today?"

"Amaria? Yeah, I did. She's great."

"So I've heard."

"Huh? What do you mean? You used to live with her."

"Oh, so you found out~? Yeah, we were all roommates in school. She visited earlier today, after you helped her in Obsidia."

"Oh yeah, and what did you talk about?"

"You, actually."

"You didn't tell her-?"

"No, I didn't. But, I have a proposition for you." She rinsed off all the soap on her body. "Amy's been stuck in a rut lately. Our other friend, Titania, and her are living together up north. But, she said that she's been kind of distant lately, for some reason. That's why she's been coming down to Reborn City so often. She said that she just wants someone to be with."

'Oh my god. Is she asking what I think she's asking?'

"And so, I told her that you would go on a few dates with her, if you didn't mind. Is that alright?"

His girlfriend was giving him permission to be with another girl?! And it's Amaria?! This was a dream come true!

"You're really...letting me?"

"You don't mind, do you?"

"No, not at all! Are you kidding?! Really?!"

"Sure~ Help her out as much as she wants. If she wants to have sex, then do it. But, I want you to remember two things: First, restraint. Don't move things too fast so that she feels uncomfortable. And second, don't just ditch me for her. This is an arrangement that I came up with, I don't want you dumping me in favor of her. Got it?"

Vero remained silent for a minute before his face lit up and he slammed his lips against hers, pushing her against the shower wall.

"MMPH~!" she moaned, surprised. She pressed up against him, kissing back. "Hold me…" she gasped, jumping up. Vero grabbed her legs with his hands, and she wrapped them around him.

"I love you." He said, breaking the kiss.

"I love you too." she smiled, as she went back in for another makeout session. Vero was getting so turned on as he felt her pussy push into his stomach.

"Damn it Julia, you're so sexy…" he whispered into her ear. When they parted again, she put her legs back down and pushed him against the other wall.

"So what next?" he asked.

"I have something in mind." she smirked. She pushed him down so that he was sitting and then crouched down so that she was eye level with him. She pushed her entrance onto his member and kissed him again before beginning to bounce up and down. Vero grabbed her breasts, one in each hand, and began rubbing them. Julia's moans were getting louder and more intense. Thankfully, the apartments in the building they lived in were pretty soundproof.

Vero took his hands off and wrapped them around her back, gripping her ass while she continued thrusting herself onto his cock.

"You know, I'm starting to realize something!" he said excitedly.

"Oh yeah~? And what's that?" She gasped in between sensual moans.

"The more I travel Reborn, the more I realize how many beautiful women I'm surrounded by. Ame, you, Victoria, Amaria...and I'm sure there'll be more." he grinned.

"HahaAAAAAAAHHHHH YES! For a rundown city, the people still look good!" She fell against him and kissed him.

"Want to switch?" he asked.

"Sure." she smiled. She lifted herself up and sat on him with her ass this time. Vero started thrusting up and down and started sucking on her tits. His left hand started rubbing her stomach gently, and his right started fingering her with his other one. Faster and faster they went, Julia screaming louder and louder.

"Hey, I know you're happy, but try not to disrupt our neighbors." He smirked, silencing her with his lips. She moaned in response, running her hands through her hair as she was getting fucked.

"You're so beautiful." He whispered into her ear as she kept kissing him. Once again, she switched back to her vagina, as he rubbed her back and smacked her butt a few times, just making her even hotter. She reached for the shower faucet and turned the temperature down a little so they wouldn't overheat and sweat.

"You just can't get enough of me~" she teased.

"You know it." he smiled slyly. Vero and Julia both increased their speeds to the maximum, getting closer and closer to their climax.

"OOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHH GODDDDDDDDDD KABOOOOOOOOOOOM~~~!" she squealed, discharging her special juices all over his lower half. They remained in their current positions, gasping.

"Alright, so what's your idea?" she asked.

"...69. Are you up for it?" She burst into laughter.

"Sounds like fun~" There was just enough room for a person to lie down in the shower. Vero did so, and Julia stood over him, facing the opposite wall. She slowly lowered herself until she sat down on his chest, and her face hovered over his dick.

"You have no idea how much I've wanted this, since I saw it the first time."

"Oh, I'm sure~ Do your worst." she smirked. As she started sucking him off, he placed his hands on her backside and began swirling his tongue around her precious area, tasting her nectar. She arched her back in response, Vero having to push her down gently so that he could still reach her. She kept going with her blowjob/handjob, making Vero feel good as well. He shoved his tongue into her clit, making her cry out in pleasure, as he continued rubbing her big ass. Her respiration treatment intensified, as well as his grazing. Their shouts and grunts only became louder and more passionate. They kept going until they couldn't go any faster, and both released at the same time, into each other's mouths. She slowly turned around so that they were sitting opposite each other again.

"Thanks, Vero. I needed that…" she smiled at him.

"Yeah...I assume that it's been a while since you've gotten to do this…"

"Actually…." she giggled slightly, looking up. "...This is kind of my first time. Not literally. I've had sex once before, at school. But it didn't really mean anything. It was just to get my feet wet, so to speak. This is the first time with someone who means something to me." She got off and sat down on him normally.

"Same…" The shower water washed off all the semen, erasing any trace of what they did.

"Oh shit...Julia, we didn't use condoms."

"Ha! Who needs condoms when you have birth control pills? Don't worry. And we're in the shower anyway, condoms wouldn't have worked." They remained seated for a few minutes as Vero looked at her again.

"How much more water did you want to use? I don't want to be the cause of a huge bill."

"Water's included in the rent, don't worry about it. We can stay in here as long as you want."

"I kind of want to get out."

"Fine then." They stood up and turned the water off, stepping out of the shower onto towels just in front of the mirror. After drying off, they both went and laid down on the bed, still naked.

"...Hey, can I ask you something?"

"Sure, what is it?"

"I'm not expecting you to say yes, but...what if there's others like Amaria?"

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"You said that I could be with her as well because she seems down and needs someone to be with. But what if someone else needs that too?"

"Why? You know someone else like that?"

"Yeah. She didn't outright say it, but I have enough of a hunch that she'd appreciate someone in her life."

"..." She thought about it, Vero watching her.

"Hmmm…..Alright~"

"Huh?"

"Yeah. Anyone else who needs companionship, go ahead."

"Really?!"

"Vero, I'm a gym leader. And as a gym leader, my duty is to help people, no matter how bad the city's crime rate is. And by staying with these friends of yours, you'll be helping them out. But it's like I said before. Remember that I was your first. So don't go running around on a sex spree without coming back to me once in a while. Capeesh?"

"Capeesh." She turned her lamp off and he began to slowly rub her pussy.

"Hey~" she moaned. "We already did it, you're still hungry for more?"

"No, this is just for...being the best thing that ever happened to me. Thank you Julia."

"No problem. I love you, Vero. Keep doing that, it'll help me fall asleep." she blushed.

"Me too." he kissed her back as they faded off into slumber.

 **End.**


	3. Suicide

Getting up was the last thing they wanted to do. They might have fallen asleep side by side, but Vero woke up with Julia right on top of him. And of course, they were still naked.

"Goddammit. I hate mornings." He groaned.

"Oh, don't say that. I like them. It's a brand new day for booms~!" She smiled at him, lifting her head.

"Of course, you'd say that. You're more of a chipper person than I am, Julia." She rolled off of him and kicked the covers off.

"Do we have to though? What time is it?"

"It's 10. The gym opens in an hour, and you have to help out in Jasper, right?"

"Ugh...can't you come with me?"

"No, I have to accept challengers. But again, come back tonight and you can have me as long as you want."

"Oh, alright…" They got up and took a shower, got dressed, ate breakfast and brushed their teeth, before heading off. He kissed her goodbye and went off to the Jasper Ward entrance. A police officer blocked the entrance.

"Oh, it's you. I heard you helped out with the floral kerfuffle in Obsidia. I'll gladly let you through if there's any chance you can stop this mess at its source."

"I'll try."

"That's good enough for me. It's a sorry setup up here in Jasper. The Beryl Ward is even worse. Just like what's happening in Obsidia, plants started going crazy all of a sudden. Unlike in Obsidia, they didn't catch it early. The whole ward is completely destroyed. We couldn't even evacuate the citizens. Some are still trapped in there, but we couldn't do anything. All we can do is keep everyone else out. Go right on through. Best of luck with anything you can accomplish."

Vero continued on into the ward, maneuvering his way through collapsed buildings, battling trainers and saving missing policemen along the way. His quest to find the source led him into Malchous Forest, where he fought against more Team Meteor grunts. After blowing through them, he arrived at another Pulse Machine, with another man standing at the front, operating it.

"Hey there. I figured you'd show up eventually. Come here." This guy seemed much more calm than the last one. Then again, the last one had three different personalities. His outfit was also very normal. He wore brown shoes, beige pants, a blue gray sweater and a red scarf. His light brown hair was medium length and spiked up in places, and his eyes looked kind of glazed, as if he didn't get enough sleep.

"You came here 'cause of this thing, right? It's a real shame, huh? Tangrowth's caused a lot of damage. Both lives and homes have been lost."

"So why keep doing it?"

"It's very simple. They're my orders. My name's Taka. What's yours?"

"Vero."

"Vero. Thought so. So you're the one who stopped the PULSE in Obsidia. But how familiar with the PULSE Project are you?"

"Pulse Project?"

"Pokemon Ultimation Link-System Exaggerata-Basically, it morphs the pokemon, and amplifies its power. So any old pokemon can become super charged. All the destruction in Jasper is because of this machine right here. There is a drawback, though. Turns out destroying a whole city region is pretty hard on a pokemon's body. You know, part of me wants to just set the thing free. That'd be nice, right?"

"You're clearly more sensible than your other colleagues. Why don't you just let it go?"

"Because unfortunately, I have orders to the contrary. After all, I'm with Team Meteor. By the way, one of my orders is to eliminate you, so don't take it personally or anything, alright?"

After battling through his three pokemon, we were once again at a stalemate.

"Well, I tried." he sighed. "So that's it, is it? What a loss. You know, Jasper might slowly return to normal, but there's another machine like this up in the Beryl Ward."

'That's right, Beryl's supposed to be as bad as here too.'

"It's not really my place to say this, but you might wanna check it out. Peace." He waved, leaving. Vero sighed before heading down the same path as him, running into a young girl, no older than 12. She wore a white dress and had long pink hair. She looked frustrated, crossing her arms angrily.

"What?" he asked, exasperated.

"Just what do you even think you're doing? I was gonna mess up those Meteor jerks myself!"

"Oh really?"

"It's not even fair! I FINALLY got away from my dad so I could go stop the bad guys...and he wouldn't even let me do that! He never lets me go anywhere! What kind of father doesn't let his daughter go out to beat up bad guys?!"

"A smart one."

"Oh, shut up! Sometimes I think he's secretly trying to punish me because I remind him of mom. Anyway, joke's on him because not only did I steal mom's ring, but I snuck out to beat people up too! There's another one of those machines up in the Beryl Ward where I live. I'm gonna go blow that one up, so don't try to stop me, OKAY? Salamence, let's go! It's take off time!" She flew off.

"Brat." he muttered under his breath. He continued on through the forest to the other side of Jasper and went out into Beryl, going through the Rhodochrine Jungle. He didn't get very far before walking over a pitfall.

"AAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!" He landed in the lower level of the forest, trapped within a cage. Though it looked like it was made out of wood or straw, it was pretty strong as he tried to get out. He crossed his arms and sat down, waiting for someone or something to come by. And sure enough, after only a few minutes, someone did come by. But it was the last person he wanted to see.

"Hahaha!" Fern laughed at first then walked off a bit, continuing.

"Hey, come on!" He walked back over, smirking.

"Really sorry about that, Vero. I just had to step away for a moment to keep from bursting into laughter. Seeing you trapped in that cage is just too much. You look so helpless. It suits ya."

"When I get out of here…"

"I mean really, imprisoned by Nuzleaf? I came up here hoping to find a gym leader and I just find a scrub in a cage. By the way Vero, how many badges do you have now?"

"2."

"Same. Turns out the leaders are super easy. I tore through two of them already! And here you are stuck in a cage. It's priceless! Well, can't totally blame ya. Nuzleaf are deceptively crafty to be able to build all this. Guess they did it to keep intruders out. Or in your case, in. Don't you worry though, top dog Fern's here to help you out."

"After mocking me for the past 5 minutes?"

"I'll gladly open the cage for you...if you get on your knees and beg. Whaddya say?"

"Wha-?! No!"

"You're not gonna do it? Fine, suit yourself. Rot in there for all I care! Later, loser!" He turned around and left. Vero huffed and once again waited around. But nobody came.

"Maybe I should have just sucked it up and begged. At this rate, I'll never get out." And just as he said that, a Chatot came up and flipped the switch, releasing the door.

"Whose Chatot was that? Taka?" he asked himself as the bird flew away. Vero continued on, fighting his way through wild pokemon. He came across an old mansion that was being used as a medical base. After resting there, he went further, battling through some more Meteor Grunts. Finally, he reached the end of the path and found Tangrowth hooked up to another Pulse machine, and 3 admins standing in front of it.

"You!" Zel yelled, as his Zero persona. **[A/N: You know what? Every time Zel talks, I'll just capitalize the letter of the persona talking, like in the game.]**

"Oh, hey." Taka greeted.

"Oh great, you guys again."

"What is it now?" the third admin asked, with a deeper voice than either of them.

"This is the trainer that defeated the PULSE in Jasper." Taka advised. "I invited Vero to come here so we could deal with this issue thoroughly. See?"

'So that was his Chatot after all.'

"Vero is also responsible for destroying the PULSE in Obsidia." zEl chimed in.

"Ah. That was you. An alley cat parading as a tiger. Heroism is vainglory. But you will learn. You've stepped out of your alley and into the world. I will introduce you to the cold pain of reality."

"Hold it right there!" Heather yelled, arriving on her Salamence.

"Hey, isn't that-?" Taka began.

"Heather, daughter to the Beryl Ward Gym Leader and-" zEl cut him off.

"I know all too well who she is. But why is she here?" the third guy cut them both off.

"What kind of question is that?! I'm stopping you evil people, duh!"

"How reckless. Weren't you raised to be more responsible?"

"Who cares?! People try to stop me from doing things all the time, but their rules are totally stupid anyway!"

"Just because you do not understand something does not make it 'stupid'. You will learn, someday."

"Would you just shut up?! I'm here to beat you up, not get lectured, so shut up!"

'I think I figured out what her two favorite words are.' Vero thought to himself.

"Taka, ZEL. Deal with Vero and protect the PULSE. Leave the girl to me."

"Sure thing." Taka complied.

"Um, I guess I have to...Sorry, Vero, but…" zeL began, before getting pushed aside by Zero.

"But it's payback time! Glaceon!"

"Lileep!" The two sent out their first pokemon.

"Charmeleon, Pancham! Charmeleon, use Fire Fang on Glaceon! Pancham, use Vital Throw!"

"Glaceon, Quick Attack!"

"Lileep, Acid!" Charmeleon got knocked back by Glaceon's attack, and Pancham dodged Lileep's. Charmeleon chomped on Glaceon with its Fire Fang, defeating the pokemon. Pancham hit Lileep, also knocking it out.

"Return! Espeon!"

"Chatot!" The two sent out their next ones.

"Return, Pancham! Meowstic! Use Shadow Ball on Espeon! Charmeleon, Dragon Rage on Chatot!"

"Espeon, Swift!" Espeon shot stars at both of them, doing a little bit of damage.

"Chatot, Chatter!" Charmeleon used Dragon Rage and caused a lot of damage to Chatot, who also did a lot to Charmeleon thanks to its move. Espeon stood still, creating an attack that would hit later on. Meowstic's Shadow Ball hit Espeon, knocking it into a tree.

"Charmeleon, Dragon Rage on Espeon! Meowstic, Charge Beam on Chatot!" They ended up defeating the two pokemon, making them return to their pokeballs.

"Umbreon!"

"Tangrowth!" Tangrowth evolved into its pulse form.

"Charmeleon, Fire Fang, and Meowstic, Psyshock! Both on Tangrowth!" They used both of their attacks, dealing some good damage.

"Umbreon, Feint Attack!" Umbreon vanished and then attacked Meowstic, knocking out half of its health.

"Charmeleon, Dragon Rage on Tangrowth! Meowstic, Disarming Voice!" Charmeleon almost defeated Tangrowth with its blue fire, and Meowstic shouted, doing a little bit to Umbreon.

"Umbreon, Feint Attack again!" Umbreon did so, and knocked out Meowstic.

"Tangrowth, Acid Spray!" Tangrowth dealt damage to Charmeleon with its poison spray.

"Return, Meowstic! Let's go, Unfezant! Use Air Cutter!" It created wind that injured both of them, and finally defeated Tangrowth.

"Charmeleon, finish it with Dragon Rage!" Charmeleon defeated the last one, making it return.

"Oh well." Taka shrugged.

"Still?"

"Well, that's not good."

(zEl) "The PULSE has been deactivated. There is no longer any purpose in defending this location."

 **[A/N: At this point, if you saved all of the missing cops, they'd show up and try to arrest the third member, who is revealed to be Corey, beginning Heather's psychological problems. But, I am far past this point in my file and don't remember the dialogue, and can't find a playthrough online for the alternate storyline. So I'm just going to proceed with the normal one. The only thing it changes is this scene and I'm assuming a little bit of dialogue in the Beryl Gym.]**

"In that case, I'm just gonna make myself scarce. You coming?"

(zeL) "Um...I...I guess so…" The two ran off along with their pokemon.

"Tch, and so they just run away. Crobat, return!" The third member also left, going north.

"Hey, wait! Where are you going?! Salamence, return!" Heather went off after him. Vero followed.

"Ugh, he got away. Whatever, I'm going home. You probably heard those freaks say so earlier, but my dad is the Gym Leader. Sounds great, right? Yeah, no, he's totally no fun at all. He just tries to keep me at home all day and says I shouldn't do anything at all ever."

"That sounds excessive."

"It is."

"Listen to me though, Heather. I know you think that he's an idiot that doesn't know anything, and I know you have strong pokemon, but you're still young. He just doesn't want you getting hurt by someone like them."

"Of course you'd say something like that. I can kind of understand, but he takes it too seriously. I'm 12, he should give me a little bit of freedom. Feel free to drop by the gym and beat him up for me. I'd do it myself, but he doesn't even want me to battle with pokemon yet."

"But your Salamence-"

"Our little secret." She giggled. "But I'm serious. One of these days I'm just gonna...leave. I'll fly away and never come back…"

"Where would you go?"

"I'm not sure...I hear Alola is nice. Hey, what's your name?"

"Vero."

"You seem smart. Here, I'll give you my number. Maybe I'll hit you up if I'm bored."

"Thanks. Don't worry Heather, I'll talk some sense into your dad."

"Good! You'll be my hero!" She walked back home.

 **X**

Vero went and healed his pokemon, bought a few supplies at the mart, and went to the gym. He changed the colors on the columns, opening a hidden door on the lower level. Entering, he found it to be the bedroom of the Gym Leader.

"Generally speaking, when one has locked themselves in a hidden room, they wish not to be approached. But I see you don't care. Not that I'm surprised. This world is void of care. Vero, correct?"

"Yes." He didn't want to interrupt, he wanted to see what he thought of everything.

"I understand you've met my daughter, Heather. She's an unruly child. She has no respect for the way I have raised her-without hope. Hope is weakness. It's an illusion meant to sugarcoat this sickening reality. The sooner one gets used to the idea that life is a nightmare and nothing less, the better off one will be. I've simply raised her keeping that in mind."

"There was a time when I thought the same thing. And then I realized that idea was stupid, and that if I didn't want to be a depressive mess of a man, I needed to do good in the world and give other people hope. I'm sorry, but Heather is how she is because of you. You've raised her in a way that she doesn't believe that love exists, and so she doesn't love you back."

"Do you truly disagree?"

"Yes."

"I'll return to the arena. There I will show you misery." He left and went to the arena on the top floor, Vero following. The arena itself was a poison field, as was to be expected. They both took their places.

"Your resilience is admirable, but foolish. Wake up. Your hopes...your dreams...futile. I will show you the cruelty of what is real. Go, Skrelp."

"Ampharos. Use Thunder Punch."

"Skrelp, use Acid." Ampharos was much faster and ended up destroying Skrelp in one move.

"...Return. Grimer." He sent out his next one, and Vero substituted Ampharos for Meowstic.

"Use Psyshock!"

"Mud Bomb." Grimer tossed a ball of mud at the creature, who dodged it elegantly and used its psychic powers on Grimer, finishing it in another one hit KO.

"...Return."

"Face it, Corey. You can't be me as long as you're like this." He said the same thing he said to Fern.

"I could say the same thing to you. Nidorina."

"Meowstic, Psyshock again."

"Nidorina, dodge it and use Bite." It did so and bit Meowstic, causing heavy damage. "Use Psyshock again!" This time, Nidorina was hit and injured.

"Finish it with Psybeam!" It did so, defeating yet another of Corey's pokemon.

"Return. Very well then. Croagunk." He sent out a fourth one. Vero narrowed his eyes.

'A poison fighting type? He's not even trying anymore. Heather was right...what a pitiful man.'

"Croagunk, Sucker Punch!" It went in and defeated Meowstic with its dark type move.

"Return. Unfezant, use Air Cutter." The bird appeared and whipped up a slicing wind that was super effective against the Croagunk.

"Venoshock."

"Air Slash." Unfezant was faster and defeated Croagunk with another wind slice.

"Return. Skuntank, take care of this. Use Incinerate." Skuntank blasted a ball of fire at it, doing a lot of damage as it burst into flame.

"Unfezant, use Air Slash again!" It flew up and slashed the pokemon, but as its name suggested, it wasn't really wounded.

"Unfezant, return!"

"Skuntank, Pursuit!"

'Damn it! I walked right into that one!' Unfezant was hit by a triple strength pursuit that defeated it anyway.

"Return. Alright Loudred, I guess it's your turn! Use Uproar!" It shouted loudly, causing some damage to the skunk, who retaliated with another Incinerate. Loudred once again used Uproar, stuck in the loop, almost taking out its opponent. But Skuntank held on and finished it with Pursuit.

"Return, Loudred. Charmeleon, your turn. Ember." Charmeleon finished the fight by breathing fire that defeated Skuntank soundly.

"Return. Crobat, it's time for the finale. Use Air Cutter." Crobat used Unfezant's signature move against Charmeleon, blowing it off of its feet.

"Charmeleon, use Fire Fang!"

"Venoshock." Crobat was far faster, and shot it back again with a huge blast of poison. "Finish it up. Another Venoshock." Charmeleon was defeated by the next attack, prompting Vero to return it to its pokeball.

"Ampharos, this is the end! Electro Ball!"

"Venoshock!" Ampharos fired a fast ball of electricity that hurt Crobat a lot. It recovered and used its signature move again, injuring Ampharos and poisoning it.

"Thunderpunch!"

"Venoshock!" Ampharos dodged it and finished off Crobat with Thunderpunch, defeating it.

"And that's that. Return."

"...Return. Pah. Injury to insult, is it? You're only here for the badge, right? That's all? Good. Then take it and go. I'm sick of-"

"Hey! Oh, hi Vero." Heather walked in. "Anyway...I'm leaving. Bye."

"Excuse me?"

"I'm leaving. For good. And you KNOW you can't stop me, so don't even try!"

"Heather, you will stop this right now."

"Make me! You can't! I'm done listening to you and your stupid rules! I'm sick of you saying I can't do anything ever! So I'm just done. Bye."

"You are being completely irresponsible. You can't just fly away and hope all of your problems will be solved."

"...Watch me."

"Heather!"

"...What?"

"You took your mother's ring, did you not?"

"So what if I did?"

"Don't lose it." She glanced at him for a moment before leaving without another word. "So that's it. Ten years of torment...just for her to vanish just as quickly. No...I'll be at your side soon. Vero. I'm in no place to ask you favors, so...I'll put it this way: come to Beryl Bridge if you want a show." And with that, he took off. Vero left as well and stopped by the pokemon center real quick to heal up his pokemon. He glanced back at the gym one more time, and found a peculiar pokemon standing on the roof.

"Huh? An Absol? What's it doing?" It glanced at him for a moment before jumping off and running through the grass and down the mountain. And with that, he headed to the bridge. He found Corey halfway down with all of his pokemon out.

"Right. You're done. You've served me well, but now you're free. Get lost. They all left, save for Crobat.

"That means you too. You're not special. Get a move on. You're not wanted here anymore, so get lost already!" The Crobat reluctantly took off. "With that out of the way, I won't be needing these anymore." He walked up to the edge and tossed the pokeballs over into the sand.

"So, Vero. What is it you want to know? Why I treated Heather how I did? It's because of my own weakness. It's because I was afraid. I was afraid of losing her like I did her mother. Her mother was a beautiful, intelligent woman. Her equal does not exist. This, I am sure of. When I was with her, I was complete. I was happy. I was naive. She left this world in exchange for Heather. A chance mechanical error took her life during childbirth. It was then I learned how cold reality truly was. Just as soon as one finds what they've always sought, it is ripped apart from them forever. I vowed never to let Heather believe any different. Life is cruel and nothing more. I thought, by raising her knowing this, I could spare her the torment I suffered. But all I did was hurt her myself. And now because of it, she's gone. Vero. Heather has in her possession a certain Ruby Ring. She will be hunted for it. Please watch over her for me." He hopped up onto the edge of the bridge.

"Hey, hey! Don't do this! Despite what you did in the past, now is the time that you really have to be there for her! She may not want to be near you, but she needs a father. She still has family, despite how distant you two are. If you do this, it'll crush her...like it did me….she'll have no family left. You're her father, and now is the time for you to start acting like it!"

"I no longer have the right to call myself her father. My love, I'll be with you soon." He turned around and fell backwards, diving off the bridge.

"COREY!" Vero ran over and reached his hand over the edge. He slowly stepped back, shocked for a moment, before hearing a cocky voice behind him.

"Wow, what a moron." Fern. "Did that dumb-wad really just throw himself off of Beryl Bridge? Sucker's gone for sure. And to think he was the one I came all the way up here to challenge...what a waste." Vero didn't respond. Fern tilted his head and smirked.

"Hah! You must have beaten him, huh? And he offed himself before he even gave you the badge?! What a sorry excuse for a leader!" Vero's expression became furious as he clenched his fists so hard that they began to bleed.

"You probably think I'm heartless, yeah?" He calmed down a bit. "Not like I knew the guy. I just see it as natural selection, ya know? So some old guy goes crazy and throws himself off a bridge...Big deal. But if you're so concerned about him, why not just go down and find him yourself? Look. He fell into the Lapis Ward, right below us. You can get there just going north from Opal Bridge. I mean, I don't see the point, but whatev-" He was cut off by a large crash and the ground momentarily shaking.

"What the heck was that?!" He ran over and looked out. "Yo, Vero! Look over there!" He stepped forward, now less shaken up.

"That huge plume of smoke rising...I think it's coming from the North Obsidia Ward! Right at the Grand Stairway!"

"Another terrorist attack?"

"Maybe...something's going down and I'm gonna find out what it is. Later, loser!" He left again.

"...I should check out the Grand Stairway too. But first…"

 **X**

The Lapis Ward was the nicer part of the city. But, it was still raining and cloudy, so the weather didn't really help.

'The bridge is over there, so he must be…' Vero began walking north, coming by a large multi-story building.

"Dr. Connel's Orphanage and Psychiatric Treatment Center."

"Today's your birthday. You can finally escape. Be strong, sister. Vengeance will be ours." Vero looked over and saw another pretty girl, with multi-colored dyed hair. It was short, only down to her neck, but the top part, from her forehead up, was pink; from there down to her chin was purple, and from her chin down was dark blue. She wore a black long sleeve shirt, a purple and pink sleeveless jacket, black leggings, and dark purple poots. She also had pink eyes. She looked around 19 or 20.

"Vengeance?" he scoffed, walking up behind her.

"Oh. Sorry." She walked off quickly, heading deeper into Lapis.

"Who was that? Doesn't matter now. Huh. I don't know what it is, but something about this place makes me hate it already." He moved on, going to the gym, where there was a crowd of people. Vero noticed Victoria and walked up behind her.

"This is horrifying…"

"I-W-What is…" Another young girl said, clearly shaken. She was Heather's age, 12. She had long light purple hair that was braided from her neck down to her waist. She wore a green dress and short skirt, with a small white ribbon worn around her neck. She wore long white socks and purple shoes.

"Shelly, honey, step away from there." Victoria advised.

"W-Why did...I-"

"Oh, goodness, no, don't cry. It's gonna be okay. Let's get you inside."

"I-I can't-breathe...Isn't-Isn't t-that…"

"It doesn't matter, honey. Come on."

"T-That's Heather's-"

"Hm?" Vero turned around and looked up at the opposite roof, finding two familiar Meteor members standing there.

"Aster and Eclipse reporting. Agent Beryl confirmed deceased."

"H-Huh? Team Meteor?" Victoria asked, turning around. "Don't tell me you guys did this!"

"As if! That was OUR-"

"Aster, shush."

"So he was that guy in the hood after all." Vero mumbled, surprising Victoria.

"Listen here, girly. It's best for everyone if you keep your nose out of Meteor's business. Come on, Aster. We confirmed the subject. Mission clear." Eclipse walked away.

"Right! They'll need us at the stairway."

"The stairway...No way! Team Meteor was behind the explosion at the Grand Stairway too?"

"Nooo, a Sunkern did it. Of course it was us!"

"I mean, you guys did the train attack too. It was obvious." Vero looked up at them.

"Tell them everything, why don't you?"

"Uh...Okay. See, apparently underneath the staircase, there's a-"

"That was sarcasm, you idiot! Come on!"

"...So it was. Right." They left.

"I'm so sorry you've had to see all this, Shelly. Let's just go inside, calm down, and-Aah! When did he get there?!" Vero turned around and looked up to see what looked like a phantom floating above where Corey crashed down.

"Oh...t-that's Shade...W-what do you want, Shade?" The phantom remained silent.

"Shade? Isn't that…? Oh, he's...taking the body away?" Corey's body disappeared, as well as Shade.

"And just like that he's gone...How strange. Let's go inside before anything else weird happens."

"O-okay…" They all went inside.

 **X**

Shelly sat on her bed, sobbing. Vero and Victoria stepped aside for a minute.

"Hi, Vero. I guess I didn't get to greet you properly yet, did I?" she asked, hugging him tightly. "What were you saying before? Outside? Did you know Corey?" They sat down on the couch.

"You can't tell Shelly." he whispered.

"Alright…" She put her hand on his shoulder.

"Before, when I went up through Beryl, three of Team Meteor's admins were there, using another Pulse machine. Two of them were ones I fought before, but the third turned out to be Corey."

"What?!"

"Yeah...I still don't know why he joined up with them, but he seemed to be pretty estranged from Heather, his daughter. She said that he was completely overprotective, but once I beat him, he said that there was another side to it. Apparently, his wife died during childbirth, taking the hope out of his life. So he raised Heather that way, to prepare for life's harsh reality that it's not all sunshine and rainbows. And she detested him for that. Heather said that she was running away from home, and he said that he no longer had the right to call himself her father. And he jumped off the bridge, despite my attempts to stop him…"

"Vero…" She buried her face into him, sobbing.

"Victoria...I said that I was coming here to make a difference…and so far, I felt like I had, fighting against Team Meteor. But now it just feels...hopeless. It seems as though every step I take forward, I also take two steps back...with the stairway...and now this...am I really making a difference?"

"...I can't answer that for you. But your goal is a noble one. Just because these things are happening, doesn't mean that you should give up. Because think of how satisfying it will be when you make the Reborn Region as lively as it used to be."

"And think of how crushing it would be if I failed."

"Vero, someone like you won't fail. After what you went through, you wouldn't just give up like that. And as long as you keep going, you'll do it. And I'll be with you all the way." He stared at her for a moment before quickly kissing her.

"Mmph!" She pushed him off. "What are you doing?! What about Julia?!"

"She said it's fine. Trust me, I'll explain later."

"Well then we're not going any further until you explain it to me."

"...Alright. Come back to my place later tonight. I'll text Julia."

"Okay...let's go talk to Shelly." They went back into her room, finding her still sitting on the couch.

"Shelly's the gym leader here. I came here to challenge her, but I'm really worried now. As soon as we were ready to battle, we saw through the window a man falling off of Beryl Bridge. He landed right outside, and there was blood, and-She's only 12. Nobody should ever have to see that. And now she just seems so distant...Vero, something's going on. First the stairway blows up, and now Team Meteor comes to look at a dead man? They said they were doing something at the Grand Stairway. I'm going to go there and see what's up. Maybe you could come too?"

"Of course."

"Shelly, I'm going to take off for a little while, okay? Is there anything i can get for you?"

"N-no...I'm sorry."

"Why are you sorry?"

"For making you worry…"

"Oh, no, please. I know I don't even really know you, I just want to do whatever I can to help. Look, I'll be back soon, okay? Take it easy." The two walked out together, leaving Lapis and going to the Grand Stairway.

"Hey, what are those two big doors?" Vero asked, looking up at them.

"You don't know?"

"Nope. I've been kind of preoccupied." They walked up and stood in front of them. An old man nearby overheard them.

"Wondering what this marvel is? Kids these days, don't know a thing. These here are the Grand Gates to Reborn City! They used to be the main passage between the city and the Aventurine Region! But massive as they are, they haven't opened in years."

"Neat. Thanks for the info." They noticed a huge hole in the middle and a ladder that went down, Victoria going first. By the time Vero got to the ground, Victoria had already been captured by Aster and Eclipse.

"Well well, look who else showed up!"

"Help me, Vero!"

"There'll be no such thing as help. You're trespassing on our operating territory, so we're going to take you down to the big boss man. Game-set aaaaaand match! Net get a move on with it!"

"Hey, uh, Eclipse, don't you think we should take Vero too, after what happened at the factory?"

"Don't be stupid, Aster. Do you want them to team up on us? Let's get this one locked away, and then we'll use her as bait to lure Vero to us. Hear that, Vero? It's lose/lose for you now. Either let us get away with her, or fall into our trap yourself! Check and mate! Now let's get going!" They ran off.

"Vero!" Victoria cried out.

"You two picked the wrong day to fuck with me…" he snarled. He maneuvered his way through the cave, destroying any wild pokemon that dared to challenge him. He did catch a Sandshrew though, and swapped it out for Loudred. Eventually, he went deep enough that he came to a special room, with runed symbols carved on the walls, glowing with energy. Continuing through the hall, he saw someone else standing in the middle of the room, in front of a door with the same X symbol on them, similar to the Grand Gates and every other ancient piece of the city.

"Greetings, trainer. Tell me something. Do you, as a citizen of this city, have any inkling of this place beneath it? I suspect not."

"No. I've only just come to Reborn a few days ago."

"I see...I suppose you are a different case, but most people are not. Most people are ignorant to the centuries of history right beneath their calloused feet. And do you know, trainer, what is beyond that gate?"

"Again, no."

"I will tell you. It is the very core of Reborn. This is a sacred place. A place from where the world began. So tell me, trainer. How insolent, how utterly ignorant, must one be to build such a wretched city right over this precious holy land? For THAT is Reborn. The city of insolence. Ironically, they built it from the symbols of that which it occludes. Ruby, the seal of pain. Sapphire, the seal of love. Emerald, the seal of faith. And Amethyst, the seal of the beyond." As he recited each stone, a part of the symbol lit up in its respective color, the top right red, the top left blue, the bottom left green, and the bottom right purple.

"Each one is a key. When the four are brought together, Reborn's true power-its sacred rite-will be restored! We will be rid of this malignant junkyard and beauty can be restored to the world. You will walk away safely. Your friend can go too. She's just ahead. Do as you will to the grunts who keep her. But when you leave, take this place with you. Share this place with the world. Remind them: This world which they have undone will itself be their undoing."

"Wow. How poetic." He scoffed and walked away, leaving. "...Victoria." He went further down the hall and found the two guarding her.

"Eh? The boss just let you walk away?"

"Yep."

"Told you we shouldn't count on him to do our work." Eclipse advised.

"Fine, we'll capture you ourselves here and now!"

"Vero, I've got your back! We can do this!" Victoria shouted out.

"You stay quiet, missy."

"Just make me!"

"Go, Solrock and Lunatone!" The two sent out their signature pokemon.

"Meowstic."

"Pignite!"

"Meowstic, use Shadow Ball."

"Pignite, Arm Thrust!"

"Solrock, Rock Slide!"

"Lunatone, Psywave!" Pignite hit Solrock five times, dealing good damage. Solrock caused rocks to fall onto Pignite, hurting it greatly. Lunatone fired a beam of psychic energy at it, damaging it even more. Meowstic used Shadow Ball and almost defeated Lunatone.

"Great, do it again."

"Pignite, Heat Crash!" Pignite jumped into the air and surrounded itself in fire, then fell down and smashed into Lunatone, finishing it off. Meowstic used Shadow Ball on Solrock, defeating it.

"Return! Electabuzz!"

"Return! Magmar!" They sent out their aces.

"Electabuzz, Thunder Punch!"

"Magmar, Feint Attack!"

"Meowstic, Psyshock!"

"Pignite, Rollout!" Pignite curled up into a ball and slammed into Magmar, wounding it. Meowstic created psychic energy particles that hurt Electabuzz, before retaliating with Thunder Punch against Pignite, defeating it. Magmar used Feint Attack against Meowstic, knocking it back.

"Hariyama!" Victoria sent her second one out.

"Meowstic, Charge Beam on Magmar!" Meowstic fired a beam of electricity at Magmar, defeating it.

"Hariyama, Force Palm!" Hariyama hit Electabuzz hard, also defeating it. Victoria and Vero returned their pokemon to their pokeballs.

"...You're infuriating."

'Yeah, yeah, Fern Jrs.' Vero rolled his eyes.

"Ugh...What's even the point?"

"Grr! Fine, go on! The boss said it was fine if you escaped anyway…"

"We'll be leaving now. But, hey? Just because you beat us, doesn't mean you won. Ta-ta. They left.

"Thank you for coming for me, Vero. I knew you would."

'Phrasing.'

"Don't worry, I'm not hurt or anything. All their boss did was talk to me. He told me about that gate up there."

"Me too."

"How strange. Do you think maybe it's better for them somehow if people know about this place? I don't get it. Oh! I've been down here so long, I forgot about Shelly. I hope she's okay! Let's go back to the Lapis Gym and check on her." They started walking back together.

"...Look, I have to ask about this. Earlier, when we...kissed…" she blushed. "...You said that Julia was okay with it. You said you would explain, so tell me." He sighed.

"Alright...well, a friend of mine visited her while I was out and said that she was feeling lonely, so Julia wanted me to go on a few dates with her to make her feel better. And I asked her about others. Like...you, for example. When we went through the slums, I felt a spark between us, and I know I sound like a total douche when I say that, but I can't explain it any other way. I could tell that you felt happy when we were together, then sad when I said I was dating her. So I asked her if I knew anyone that had the same loneliness if I could help them out. And she said sure."

"That easily?"

"Well, she had to think about it. But she said that it's a part of my goal; to make people happier and make this city a better place. But Victoria, if it makes you feel uncomfortable to know that I have multiple girlfriends, then I'll leave you alone about it."

"..." She grabbed him and started kissing him passionately, surprising him. When they parted, he stared at her in disbelief as she tried to catch her breath, flustered.

"...So I take it that you're okay with it." he laughed.

"I-I'm sorry, I don't know what came over me…" she gasped. "But…..yes, if you say so...truth be told, I've had a crush on someone else for a long time, but he's changed, and I don't think it would work out. But strangely enough, I feel the same way about you." She went in and kissed him again as he wrapped his hands around her waist. They began walking again, and she checked her pokegear. It was already almost evening.

"You said go to your place tonight?"

"Yeah. I think this gym battle is going to be the last thing I do for today, and then we'll grab something to eat and head back. Julia's giving us the place. Any time I do this, she goes and stays with Florinia."

"I see. That's nice of her. Alright then, let's hurry."

 **X**

Shelly hadn't moved from her spot. Victoria leaned onto Vero a bit.

"Vero...Thanks for your help. I guess I kinda got ahead of myself. But now Shelly is...She seems to be really torn up about having seen the-Well, you know…I'm so worried, especially since she knew him. I think, maybe she should get some help? I know there's a psychiatrist in this very ward, who has some notoriety. His name is Dr. Connal. Would you find out if he might be willing to see Shelly?"

"Sure…" he said with a fake smile.

'This might be my chance to see what's really going on in there, considering what that girl said.'

"After all, I don't want her to be scarred for life. She already seemed so frail. So, please go find the Doctor?"

"...I'll be back soon." He went off, and as soon as he tried to open the door, someone else came through, bumping into him.

"Oh, um….Excuse me."

'Another hot one. Of course. Thanks, Reborn.' This woman was very young, 18, had long curled pink hair, adorable pink eyes, and wore a long green dress that was patterned so that it looked like she was merely wearing a dress made out of leaves and other plants. She wore green boots that were styled the same way, and wore long pink gloves.

"I have to get out of here, right now…..Finally…" she mumbled, walking away.

'That's another one that's said something like that...I knew this place was bad news...no way I'm taking Shelly here.' He walked up and opened the door.

"Hi!" he was greeted immediately by a young girl, only 11 or 12. She had long black hair that she kept in two long pigtails, with her bangs long enough to cover one side of her face. Her eyes were pink as well. She wore a red pendant necklace, and a pink short sleeve blouse, along with a same color skirt, long white socks, and black shoes. She was holding onto a Jirachi plush.

"Hi."

"Oh, you're not Laura! Did you see her? She just left."

"Yeah, she was in a hurry."

"Who are you? Why are you all glowy?"

"Huh? Glowy?"

"Nobody is glowing, Anna." Another young boy said, standing nearby. He was the same age as her, and had the same black hair, but much shorter. He wore black pants and black shoes, and a long sleeve white shirt that looked like a semi-trench coat. He also carried a Cleffa plush.

"Huh? But that person clearly is! Oh, nevermind. Come on! I'll introduce you to everybody!" She grabbed his hand and pulled him over into the middle of the room.

"Okay! So, I'm Anna-hi!-and this my Jirachi, Nostra!" She held up the doll. "She says, 'it's nice to meet you!' Over there is my twin brother, Noel, and his Cleffa, Nomos!"

"Nomos and Nostra are just dolls, but hi. Uh, Nomos says 'Hi', too, I guess."

"Don't lie, Noel, they're not just dolls! Stop being ridiculous!"

"You're one to talk."

"Anyway! That's my friend, Charlotte!" She pointed to another girl. She was older than the other two, about 16, but still pretty. She wore a black shirt with a red coat over it, black leggings, and red boots. She had pink hair that was slightly dyed purple at the ends, and was tied into two pigtails.

"She's actually really, really, pretty. You just have to see through the burn scars."

"But she doesn't-"

"Anna, for the last time, I don't have any scars."

"There are no burn scars, Anna." Noel corrected.

"But-Oh, right! I'm sorry, I'm so insensitive! I won't talk about them anymore, I promise. I was just saying that you're pretty!"

"There's nothing to not talk about. Tch, nevermind. Hi. So, you saw Laura on the way out, yeah? That's my sister. She's also one of Reborn's Elite Four."

"That's new. I'm Vero."

"Awesome kind of runs in our family. No big deal."

"If you're going to say that, you may as well mention how Anna-" Noel said, before Anna cut her off again.

"Yeah! Laura's so cool! And Charlotte and Noel are also Gym Leaders~"

"Anna…"

"I'm gonna miss Laura, but I'm glad she's finally getting out!"

"By that, she means that she turned 18 today, so she doesn't have to stay here anymore."

"See, this is an orphanage." Charlotte said. "We're all stuck here until we turn of age, or the good Doctor decides to let us go. So, basically, forever."

"The Doctor is scary…" Noel mumbled.

"Yeah! He has really strong Electric Type pokemon, and he uses them in his 'therapy.' It really hurts...Nostra says that she thinks his past patients have died. I think so too, because when you're around him, if you listen carefully, you can hear a voice."

"Yeah, I actually still haven't heard anything like that, Anna, so I dunno." Charlotte said.

"Okay...disregarding the last part, that's seriously messed up that he uses electrocution therapy on kids! Why didn't you ever call the police?!"

"Because Dr. Connal's pokemon are way stronger than anything the cops have. Don't you think we want to leave? No one knows about how this place really works, and they don't really have anyone strong enough to defeat him."

"Your sister's a member of the Elite Four."

"She's...not really good with this kind of stuff. She's kind, I don't think she'd want to stage a breakout."

"Hmm…"

"So, Vero, what are you here for?" Anna asked.

"One of my friends is having some trouble. She saw something she shouldn't have, so I came here. But…"

"Someone you know needs help? Oh, no! That's terrible, but you mustn't bring her here! That'll only make her worse!"

"Yeah, I can tell…"

"Hold on...Nostra says the Doctor is coming! Eep!" She quickly went and stood by the couch, as Dr. Connel walked into the room. He was intimidating, Vero had to admit. He wore a white shirt and black tie, black pants, and a white lab coat over it. He had short blonde hair that was combed off to one side.

"Ah, a visitor. I was right to wonder at the noise. Greetings. I am Dr. Sigmund Connel, but you may refer to me simply as 'Doctor.' So, how can I help you?"

"Well…" He glanced off to the side, where Anna shot him a worried glance, taking a step forward.

"Erm, well, Vero just heard that there were gym leaders here, and came by because of that! Yeah, that's it! Nothing else, hehe."

"Yeah. I'm taking on the league."

"Is that all? Well then. Indeed there are some particularly gifted individuals in our care. Several of them were able to inherit or earn high-ranking positions. You must have some degree of confidence in your skills as well. Hrm. Orderly, please conduct a brief examination of this challenger."

"Yes, Doctor." One of his employees walked up and began a pokemon battle with Vero. His Magnemite, Magneton, Elektrik, and Slowpoke were easily defeated by Vero's Charmeleon and Ampharos.

"Most impressive, Vero. However, I am afraid I cannot permit a battle with them just now." Connel motioned to Charlotte and Noel. "We're currently renovating our arena, and the common areas are unsuited to battle. However, I am afraid I also cannot allow them to leave. It is regrettable, but it cannot be helped. You'll simply have to wait until a different time."

"Well! That's too bad~ Guess Vero will just have to be leaving now!" Anna ran over and started walking him out of the clinic, whispering to him.

"Quickly, while you still can! Trust me. This guy isn't the doctor for your friend. Nostra says she can feel your friend's sorrow on you, too... Something really bad must have happened, right? Tell her to look out for the one who's really hurt by this."

'Heather…'

"If she does that, then she won't have time to be sad herself!"

"I'll come back, Anna. Don't worry."

"Something the matter? Exactly what are you whispering about?" Connel asked impatiently.

"Nothing! Bye Vero!" He walked out, and she locked the door behind her. After stopping at the pokemon center, Vero went back to the gym. Victoria turned around once he came up the stairs.

"Did you find someone Shelly can talk to?"

"No."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. I have a message for her, though." He walked up to her.

"A girl at the orphanage told you to tell me…?"

"She said that if you focus on who's really hurt by this, then you won't have time to be sad yourself."

"That's right...What am I complaining about? Heather's the one who lost her dad… I don't have any room to be shaken up with this. I need to find her…"

"Honey, you need to stay right here and rest."

"N-no, I'm okay, really! Thanks, Vero. I'm...going to try and find Heather. She needs to know. But first, Victoria, didn't you come here for a Gym Battle? Oh, I'm sorry! With everything that happened, I totally forgot...We can do it now, though."

"Huh? No, it's fine. You don't need to apologize."

"O-okay, sorry…..Oh, oops."

"Really, don't worry about my battle. I'd rather wait until everything is sorted out. Although, Vero might want to do it."

"Oh-Oh, you too? Okay. I'll go wait downstairs. Just um...just come whenever you're ready." She left the room.

"Poor thing. She's so strong, getting through this like that, but I have a bad feeling about this." Vero walked downstairs, followed by Victoria.

"Vero, wait!"

"Hm?"

"Look, I know this is weird, but do you really have to fight her? I mean, she's just recovering from a traumatic encounter. I'm worried that this is just going to stress her out more. So, this is me, trying to stop you. It's not that I don't want you to win...I just think there are more important things than getting a badge, like her stability. If you're really determined to fight her, you'll have to beat me first!"

"Victoria…"

"Look…I love you, but I feel like you have to put your league challenge on hold sometimes! Not everything can be solved with a pokemon battle."

"No. But this can. A battle will help her get back into her regular routine." And afterwards, Vero won of course.

"Hm...Okay...Clearly I can't stop you anyway. Just, please be gentle with her. You'd better win, otherwise it'll all be for nothing. I'll go upstairs and wait for you." Vero nodded, dealing with all the trainers and puzzles downstairs, and then headed up and across the huge bookcases to where Shelly's arena was.

"Hi, Vero! What did you think of my garden library?"

"Confusing." he sighed.

"Sorry, I'm kind of a bookworm, hehe...Actually I just spent a lot of time reading so I could be good enough for my brother. He's so cool. He's a Gym Leader in Johto! I wanted to be just like him, so I came here to do this! But no matter what I did it was never enough. He always just pretended like I didn't exist. It's fine though, I know my place."

"Shelly…"

"Sorry, we kinda got off topic...So...So um...Good luck! Go, Illumise and Masquerain!"

"Go, Charmeleon and Ampharos!"

"Illumise, Struggle Bug! Masquerain, Bubblebeam!"

"Charmeleon, dodge it and use Flame Burst on Illumise, and Ampharos, use Thunder Punch on Masquerain!" Charmeleon managed to avoid the bubble attack, and fired a burst of flame that exploded when it hit the bug type pokemon, knocking it out. A bit of the flame burned Masquerain as well. Ampharos ran up, electrified its fist, and punched it, sending it flying back.

"Return, Illumise! Go, Anorith!"

"Alright, Charmeleon, return! Go, Meowstic!"

"Masquerain, Struggle Bug! Anorith, Rock Slide!" Masquerain vibrated, creating small, light green orbs of light that attacked both of them, hurting Meowstic a lot, due to it being a psychic type. Anorith caused rocks to fall, almost defeating Meowstic, and causing some damage to Ampharos.

"Meowstic, Extrasensory! Ampharos, Power Gem!" Meowstic did a great deal to Anorith, and Ampharos finished off Masquerain by shooting rock projectiles at it.

"Ah! Return, Masquerain. Wormadam!"

"Meowstic, Psyshock on Anorith. Ampharos, Power Gem on Wormadam!"

"Anorith, Knock off on Meowstic! Wormadam, Psybeam on Ampharos!" Anorith crawled up to Meowstic and hit it, knocking it out. But the psychic energy particles were already floating above it, and fell onto Anorith, making it a double KO. Wormadam fired its attack at Ampharos, making it exhausted. It still had enough energy to use Power Gem though, dealing heavy damage.

"Return, Anorith."

"Return, Meowstic."

"Heather!"

"Hm?" Vero looked up, as Shelly sent out a Yanmega. "Ah, a nickname. Unfezant!"

"Wormadam, use Mirror Shot on Unfezant! Heather, use Ancient Power!"

"Ampharos, Electro Ball on her Yanmega! Unfezant, Air Cutter!" Wormadam fired a beam of light at Unfezant, who recovered and created wind that sliced through Wormadam, defeating it. Yanmega made boulders float up from the ground and hit both Unfezant and Ampharos, finally finishing off Ampharos, and also Unfezant.

"Return." They said at the same time.

"Bugsy!" She sent out a Volbeat as her last pokemon.

"Charmeleon, Piloswine!" Vero sent out his ace, along with a new one he picked up. When he went down into the Grand Stairway, he picked up the TM for Rock Smash, and went back across the Beryl Bridge, breaking his way into Citrine Mountain, and catching a Swinub, and training it into evolving. After all, an Ice Type would be useful.

"Piloswine, Icy Wind! Charmeleon, Flame Burst!" Piloswine created a cold blast of air that defeated Heather, and Charmeleon blasted fire onto Bugsy, also wiping it out.

"Return. So...I'm still not good enough, huh...Yeah...I probably never will live up to his expectations. But...But it's okay, you did really well." She handed him the Cocoon Badge.

"And um...Um, oh! Here, take this, please?" She handed him a TM. "That contains the move Struggle Bug. It's a pretty unique move in that it's both offensive and defensive. Just...call it my thanks for um, helping me deal with...everything."

"Right….hey, Shelly? You said your brother didn't really like you, right?"

"Um...yeah…?"

"Take it from someone who had a good relationship with his sibling. If he doesn't care about you, then don't fight for his approval. Fight for your own. You should become stronger for yourself or for Heather, not for someone like him."

"...Okay. Thanks."

"Sure."

"Um...Vero?" She asked as he began to walk away.

"Yeah?"

"Um, sorry...I forgot to mention earlier...Actually, the Reborn League has a Reserve Leader for every type. That is, when a Gym Leader retires, the reserve leader takes their place. Since Heather's dad was um...you know...that means that the Poison Reserve Leader is now the new Gym Leader. But, they maybe don't know that yet? So, I think...I think you should go to the Grand Hall and tell Ame what happened. That way they can get it sorted. Would you do that?"

"Sure, I'll stop there tomorrow."

"Thanks! Sorry to impose...Um...Good luck. Oh, and here's my pokegear number, too…" Vero headed back outside, finding Victoria standing there.

"Hey. You're done?"

"Yeah. I won."

"How's Shelly feeling?"

"Much better."

"That's good."

"Yeah. Ready to go?"

"Sure." They went back to Vero's apartment in Peridot, and sat on the bed together.

"So…"

"So…"

"So what was wrong with that place? For Shelly?"

"It's a misleading name. It's just an orphanage, there's no longer a doctor that works there." he lied. He wasn't going to tell her about what really goes on in there, that would just worry her even more. He'd take care of it himself.

"What have you been doing since Obsidia?" he asked, changing the subject.

"I went back to Peridot to challenge Julia, and then up to Onyx. I thought maybe I could find you at Florinia's gym, but you already won the day before. So I didn't see you again until just today. And you?" He laid back, sighing.

"I don't know If I want to talk about it again…"

"You need to. It will help you." He glanced off to the side, looking at the clock. She turned his face back to hers.

"Vero...stop avoiding it."

"Victoria…"

"I'll tell you what." she smirked. "Will you tell me if I get undressed?"

"What…?"

"Come on. Let's get changed." She stood up, going over to Julia's dresser. Vero sighed, turning onto his back and spreading his arms out.

"What are you looking for?"

"A clean bra, but they're all too small. What size is Julia?"

"34C."

"Yeah, that's not gonna work then. I'm a 34D."

'Oh boy.' he thought to himself happily. He really couldn't wait to see Victoria's body. Who cares when they had sex, her usual outfit was conservative, as a martial artist uniform, so you couldn't really tell how well she was really endowed unless she purposely pushed out her chest or bent over. And from what he saw in Obsidia, she was pretty big.

"I guess I'll just have to rewear this one tonight, and I'll change tomorrow. You don't mind, do you?"

"No, not at all."

"Alright. Be right back." She went into the bathroom and closed the door, while Vero got changed in the bedroom. Victoria undid her sash, took off her robe, shirt, skirt, pants, and socks, leaving her in a purple and gray lace bra and matching thong. Vero's jaw dropped as she came out. He was right, she was big. Her breasts were bigger than Julia's, as was her lower region, and when she turned around to put her clothes on the chair, he saw her massive ass in full view.

"Like what you see?" she smirked.

"You know it." He stood up and took off his shirt and pants, leaving him in nothing but his underwear. They laid down on the bed together.

"So tell me. Please?" she asked, tracing her finger along his chest.

"Well...alright. After I beat Florinia, I went home to Julia."

"And how was that?"

"Amazing." he chuckled.

"Ah, you had sex?" she blushed.

"Yeah. Are you upset about that?"

"N-No, I-uh...I mean, you said that Julia will let you be with whoever, so...I should get used to that idea. Anyways, go on."

"Well, this morning I went and helped out with the crisis in Jasper and Beryl. Both were Team Meteor's work again. But in Beryl, there were three of them at their Pulse Machine. The one in Obsidia, ZEL, and the one in Jasper, Taka, as well as a third that was in charge of them. I couldn't tell who he was until when I got to the Beryl Gym. It was Corey."

"Yeah, you said that back in the Lapis Gym. Why do you think he was one of them?"

"I don't know. But knowing how these teams work, they probably gave him a false promise. After I beat him, he said to meet him at out at the bridge. So I did, and he released all of his pokemon back into the wild. He explained his past to me, and how he believed that life was unfair. His wife died during childbirth, and so Heather grew up without a mother, and with a father who had lost all happiness. He was only trying to keep her safe, but was overprotective of her, and taught her that any joy you find in life will be swiftly taken away, like her mom was. Before we left for the bridge, Heather showed up in the gym and announced that she was leaving for good, because she was sick of living under his boot. He said that without Heather, his life was meaningless….and so, he...jumped. Just like that…" he looked away, and Victoria looked at him sadly.

"Afterwards, I went down to the Lapis Ward, and well...you know the rest from there." he sighed, looking back at her.

"Yes...Vero, I know it traumatized Shelly, but...what about you? If anything, you had it worse. Are you sure you're alright?"

"Yes. I don't have the luxury of feeling bad right now. There's too much to do, too much going on. But really, Victoria, I'm fine. Yes, it shocked me, but...it's not as if I knew him that well, unlike Shelly or Heather. Speaking of which…" He picked up his pokegear and called Heather, but she didn't pick up. He wasn't expecting her to, considering that it was late at night and she'd probably already gone to bed by now, but he wondered if she even knew what happened to her dad.

"No answer." He let his arm fall onto his nightstand, making a slight thud as the phone hit the wood of the table.

"I'm sure you'll find her again soon. She couldn't have gone far, right?"

"I don't know...she said she might move to Alola, and she has a Salamence, so...I hope she's still around." They remained in silence before glancing at the clock again. 11:00.

"...Victoria, did you want to-?"

"...No. Not yet. I'm sorry, but I'd rather wait a while if that's okay with you."

"Not at all. That's fine. I think we should go to bed then. Who knows what we have to do tomorrow."

"Yeah." They both turned off their lamps and laid down.

"But...I wouldn't mind if you wanted to cuddle…" she muttered, blushing.

"I'm up for that." They turned towards each other, as she snuggled into his chest, her large breasts pushing into him. He wrapped his arm around her, stroking her hair at first before letting it rest against her back.

"I love you…" she whispered to him.

"I love you too…" And just like that, they fell asleep.

 **End.**


	4. The Feeling of Emptiness

Vero woke up earlier than his girlfriend. He stretched and yawned, and she burrowed into her spot, wrapping both of her arms around him.

"Vero...do you have to get up yet?" she asked drowsily. He looked at the clock.

"Yeah...it's already 10. You should think about waking up soon too. Do you have anything important to do today?"

"Not really. Just continue my league challenge, I guess. So I'm going back to Lapis to challenge Shelly…what about you?"

"I don't know who's next. First thing I have to do though is stop by the Grand Hall and tell Ame about Corey, so I'm sure that she'll let me know." He propped his pillow up and laid against it, Victoria adjusting herself so that she was on top of him.

"You really don't want me to get up?"

"No...it's so nice to sleep with someone~" She sighed, stretching.

"I know, but I really need to get going." he said, rubbing her back, and lightly lifting her off of him.

"Oh, alright…" she sighed. Vero got up and went in the shower, getting ready for the day. He came out and got dressed, seeing Victoria still in bed, but now awake.

"Well...it looks like I'll have to put my battle on hold. I'm needed back at the academy, Kiki's not feeling well. But I'm sure I'll see you there soon enough anyway."

"Yeah. I'm going to go now. I'll see you soon." She stood up and hugged and kissed him goodbye.

"Thank you for everything, Vero."

"Of course."

 **X**

Vero knew it was going to be a bad day when the first person he came across was Fern, in the Grand Hall.

"Well look, if it isn't Vero, looking like a lost puppy as usual! I was just telling Ame here about your little accident with the Beryl Gym Leader."

"So you did my job for me."

"It's really unfortunate...I was worried about him for this exact reason…" Amy said.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Look, tell Aya to be ready by the time I get there, okay?"

"Yeah. I'll call her now. Oh, and hi Vero! Bye Vero!" Ame greeted, going upstairs. Fern turned to me.

"You look confused. Well, more confused than normal. See, every gym in the Reborn League needs a backup, right? Like I'm the backup for the Flobot. When she retires, I take over. Well the same thing is true for the Poison guy. He retired, well, in a sense, so now we're letting the backup, Aya, know she's up. Turns out she's some chick who lives in the Wasteland south of the city...Heh, but you won't be able to get out that way unless you have the key. And guess what? I do! I've already got three badges, and it's about to be four. Man, that Shelly girl was a pushover. It was like she wasn't even trying. I mean she seemed like she was going to keel over and cry at any second, but hey, I'll take the badge. Anyway, I'm off. Good luck finding the key to the wasteland." He started walking away.

"Where'd you get the key?"

"Why would I tell...You know what, no, fine. Fight me, Vero. If you win, I'll tell you. But like that's going to happen!"

It happened.

"Talk about cheap. Whatever, man. You want to know about the key? I don't care. So the new poison leader's a girl who lives out in the wasteland, yeah? Well I got the key from her brother."

"Her brother?"

"He's a real fruity looking guy. Decked out in purple, fishnets, looks more like a girl. Totally freaky. He wouldn't stop singing, either…"

"I know him."

"...Hah. I should have expected. You WOULD."

"I'd still take him over you any day." Vero scoffed. Fern growled, but decided to let it go.

"So yeah, he said he was going up to the Beryl Cemetery for something or other. If you want a key, go ask him. Later, loser!"

 **X**

Vero arrived in the Beryl Ward, stopped to look at the gym for a moment, and continued west into the cemetery. He spotted Cain standing at the end of the cliff.

"Heyyy, Vero. Didn't expect to see you here. I came up here because I heard about what happened with the old poison leader. I mean, I know there's nothing anyone can do for him, but I heard he left behind a daughter too? Rather, that she ran away."

"Yes, her name's Heather. I'm worried about her."

"I want to find her. That's a big thing, not having anyone to take care of you when you're so young. So how about you Vero, what brings you here? You know, you don't have to stalk me."

"Haha, very funny. With Corey dead, your sister's the new leader, right? I need the key to the Wasteland."

"Oh, you want it too...yeah...I shoulda thought as much, haha. I'm not really a fan of her though. She's all grrrr all the time. Whatever. I'll tell you what. Beat me and I'll give you the key~ Kaykay?"

Once again, it was easy for Vero to beat Cain because he relied on poison types, which both Sandslash and Meowstic took care of easily.

"Darn. I don't really like giving it out, but…Huh? Hey, when did you get here?" Vero turned around to see Heather watching them from atop the cliff.

"Heather?"

"What are you looking at?"

"Heather, right?" Cain asked.

"Why do you know my name?"

"My name's Cain. I heard some stuff happened, and I was looking for you because I was worried."

"What, so you can place a bunch of stupid rules on me too? Don't bother. I can be just fine all by myself!"

"Hey, no, I just wanted to be friends. See, I-"

"Just shut up! I didn't ask for anything from you! I don't need anything!"

"I think you need a friend."

"You're so annoying! I already have a friend!"

"Oh? Who's that?"

"She's a gym leader, okay? And she doesn't ask so many stupid questions!"

"Hey, sorry, okay? Your friend is probably worried, so you should maybe go to her."

"Fine! If it'll get me away from you, I will! Salamence, let's go, it's take-off-time!" She got onto her dragon and flew off.

"This is what I was worried about. She was already reckless before he died, now she's even worse off."

"Hm...she's flying off towards the Lapis Ward. I'm gonna go down to the Lapis Ward. The gym leader there is Shelly, right? About the key-sorry! I have to hurry before she flies off somewhere else! Maybe later!" He started running after her, Vero following.

 **X**

"Why do you keep following me?! I just want to be left alone!" Heather screamed at the two as they entered Shelly's room.

"Hey, hey, I just don't think it's good for you to be alone right now."

"I, um, I kind of agree with him. I mean, I'm really worri-"

"Hey, don't take his side!" Heather turned to Shelly.

"I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean-"

"You've been through a lot. You're hurt and confused, and scared, and I get it. It's okay. I've been there, too. But-"

"But nothing! You don't know me! Shut up! Look, you said I need a friend, right? Well here she is! You're my friend, right Shelly?"

"Y-Yeah, of course...You're my only friend, after all…"

"See? Is that good enough for you? Then go away! Shelly, tell them to go away."

"Um...Ah, umm...I'm sorry Vero, b-but…Um, Heather says that um, you guys should...she says, you should, um, leave…"

"You know Heather, most friends don't boss each other around like that."

"Don't tell me what to do! I've had enough of that!"

"I'm not, haha. I'm just saying, Shelly seems a little scared when you yell at her. Shelly, would you like her to be nicer to you?"

"Um...y-yeah, I guess? Sorry…"

"I wasn't DOING anything! Ugh, whatever! You're all just ganging up on me! I'm leaving! Don't try to stop me!" She stormed out of the room, making Cain sigh and rub his face.

"Shelly, Vero, quick! She's only going to keep hurting herself like this!" Cain went after her.

"Ah, um...but…Um, wait for me!" They went after them as well.

 **X**

Running outside, Vero ran up to Shelly, standing behind Cain, Heather, and Dr. Connel.

"Would you just get out of my way?!" she yelled at him.

"That is absolutely no way to speak to your elders."

"I don't care, just shut up and move! Ugh!"

"You seem unusually anxious, child. Haven't your parents taught you any manners?" Vero tensed up. This was not going to go well.

"Hey, woah there, geezer, lay off the girl."

"Excuse me. I am not a 'geezer.' I am a Doctor. I've worked many hours for that title; In return, I expect to be addressed appropriately."

"Fine then. Back off, Dr. Geezer."

"Pffft." Heather giggled.

"Wha, did I actually get her to laugh? Success!"

"I wasn't laughing! I had something stuck in my throat!"

"You had a giggle stuck in your throat?"

"While I do HATE to break up your giddy humor, I'm afraid I must. Little girl, where are your parents?"

"Would you shut up about that?!" Shelly stepped forward.

"Um...D-Doctor, um, her parents, are, um...They're not...here anymore."

"Is that so? Hrm…I see. So, who is now your primary caregiver?"

"Me." Vero said quickly, standing forward and surprising the others.

"Oh, really?" he asked. "I remember you. You are over 18, correct?"

"Yes, I'm 19."

"And you have somewhere to live?"

"Also yes."

"He's lying! No one's looking after me! I don't NEED anyone! I'm fine all by myself! That means you too, freaky boy!"

"Hey, hey…" Cain mumbled.

"No guardian? How unfortunate. In that case, I may have a solution. You see, I myself run a service for the children of Reborn. I give homes to those who have none. Food, shelter, and even many friends, just like yourself. Does that sound nice to you, Heather?"

"I don't want anything from you!" Vero slowly reached into his bag for a pokeball.

"No need to be so rude. I'm offering you a home. I'm offering you everything you need to get your life back on track. Why do you resist?"

"Because you're a creep! No girl would ever want to be around you!"

"...I see. Well, I would say that you leave me little option, however it is you that does not have a choice. Under Article 4, Section 9, Clause 3, we are legally responsible for the actions of all orphaned children in the city of Reborn, wherein the status of an orphan is defined as one who has no known living parents nor legal guardians willing and capable of providing care for the subject. Under Article 7, Section 2, Clause 2 we are granted the authority of adopt into custody any discovered orphan within the city limits, provided he or she cannot produce legal documentation of guardianship in or outside of the municipal district. Orderlies, seize her."

"Charizard, Flame Burst!" Vero quickly sent out his pokemon, but Connel also sent out his Electivire that used Thunderpunch, blowing both of us back against the gym.

"Heyy, no, not cool. Back off, Dr. Oldguy." Cain warned. Two of his employees walked up and grabbed Heather.

"Get off of me! Let me go right now!"

"Take her." he ordered. He turned back to the rest of us and looked at me specifically. "I suggest you not interfere. Physical interruption to this procedure qualifies as personal assault and severe delinquency detrimental to standard city functions, and can and will result in a criminal record and lawsuit against your name. Do have a good day." They left and went back into their building, presumably locking the door behind them.

"Oh my god...I j-just…!" Shelly ran back into the gym.

"Are you alright?" Cain asked.

"Yeah, I'll be fine." Vero responded, rubbing his head and standing up. He returned his Charizard. "But Heather won't. That place is not good for her, we have to get her out. Let's go help Shelly first though." The two walked back up, finding her standing near her bed.

"I did it...I had to open my big stupid mouth. And you were trying to save her too, Vero…"

"Shelly it's not-"

"If I hadn't said anything, he wouldn't have known that she was...Oh my god, I'm so sorry."

"Heyy, Shelly, don't blame yourself for what that creep does. He's his own demon. It's kinda my fault too, I was the one who chased her out of here."

"She's g-going to be so mad...oh my god...I'm sorry...I'm such a bad friend…"

"Look at me, Shelly." Vero turned her around and looked her in the eyes. "You are not a bad friend and this is not your fault. And Heather won't be mad at you when we get her. She's going to be grateful because you helped her. But we have to ask fast before she's…"

"...Before she's what?" she sobbed.

"You don't want to know."

"But if we do anything, won't we get in trouble?" she asked.

"Yeah, you're right. We could maybe be arrested, put in jail...big trouble. But Heather's already in trouble. So I'm gonna take that chance." Cain said.

"Y-Yeah...I hope she's okay."

 **X**

"What are you doing, you stupid creep?! Let me go!"

"The girl is completely out of control. Hold her down….Good. Begin treatment at 100 volts."

"You'll never get away with this, you dirty old man!"

"Make that 110. Bind her as well. Now, Heather, hold still. You might feel a little shock…."

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

 **X**

"Did you guys just hear something?"

"Um...W-was that...Heather?"

"I think we should hurry. I'll meet you guys in front of the orphanage. We're gonna bust her out of there~"

"O-okay, I'm coming!"

"Finally. Time to kick some ass."

 **X**

"It's locked...What are we supposed to do now?" Vero walked up and knocked, and heard the lock click. He tried again, and the three walked in easily.

"Hi again!"

"Anna! Are you guys okay?!" Vero asked seriously.

"Yeah, we're fine!" she hugged him.

"Whaaaat, the door was JUST locked. Shelly and I both tried it!"

"Yepyep! I saw Vero's glowiness through the wall, so I unlocked the door~" she said, still clinging to him.

"Glowiness?" Cain asked.

"Vero glows! It's amazing!"

"There's a thing about her. She can 'see' things others can't, but not all of them are accurate."

"Hi, I'm Anna! Nice to meet you!" She introduced.

"Haha, heyyyy. I'm Cain. You're pretty peppy."

"She always is. And always when it's least appropriate." Noel explained.

"But being cheerful when it's least appropriate is when it's most necessary!"

"So, like, why are you guys here? Is it for the girl that was just brought in?" Charlotte asked. "She was kicking and screaming the whole way. Not that that's unusual."

"We're...um, we're going to save her!"

"Yeah, it's a prison break~ You guys wanna come?"

"Is that even a question? If I have a chance to get out of here, I'm gone."

"W-well...We're not leaving without Heather!"

"Course you aren't. 'Sides, it's only a matter of seconds until the orderlies notice you guys and toss you out."

"Our pokemon were confiscated, so you'll be outnumbered."

"No kidding. All right, I can take care of a few of them for you. But if you don't come back for me, heads are gonna roll."

"Charlotte, what are you doing?" Anna asked curiously.

"Creating a diversion." She walked over to the orderlies on the first floor. "Hey. Hey, assholes. Give me my cigarettes."

"You know we can't do that, Charlotte."

"So? Give 'em to me I want my fucking squares."

"Charlotte, we're going to have to ask you to calm down."

"I'll calm down when I get my smokes. What else are you gonna do, throw me in the Circuit? Oooh, I'm so scared."

"We could do that. You're asking for it."

"Try me."

"Fine. Let's go, Charlotte."

"No! Give me-Let go of me!"

"Ow-she bit me! Hey, help me out here! Get her into the Circuit!"

""Hey, what's the Circuit?"

"It's where they put the really bad kids to be alone."

"Who's that in the doorway?"

"Uh oh, they saw you guys." Noel stepped back, holding his doll.

"Anna, get behind me." Vero instructed. Three orderlies walked up to the group.

"It's currently outside of visiting hours. We're going to have to ask you to leave."

"Well, we're going to have to decline. Vero, Shelly, let's go!"

"R-right!" Vero's opponent sent out a Wynaut, Slowpoke, and Elgyem, all of which were quickly disposed of by his Meowstic.

"We...we beat them?" Shelly asked.

"Quickly, warn the Doctor! Lockdown the quarters!" All of them went upstairs.

"You're really strong! I'm Anna. Your name is Shelly, right? Wanna be friends?"

"Friends? But I…"

"I know, you already have so many friends! But there's room for one more, right~?"

"I don't have many friends…"

"Of course you do! Can't you see all the strings?"

"S-Strings?"

"Everytime a friendship is formed, an invisible thread is tied between two people. Only, I can see them! And you have so many around you! I've never seen so many! There must be a lot of people who really care about you."

"Really…?"

"Yeah! And it's one more since we're friends now! Vero has a lot around him too! He even has a few pink ones!"

"Huh? Pink?"

"Yeah, it means he's in love with someone~" she cooed, making Shelly blush.

"Anna. She doesn't need to know about my love life." he warned.

"Guys, the other orderlies are probably going to come back from locking Charlotte up soon."

"Well, that won't do. I'll hold them off as best I can. You guys find Heather!"

"Take a defensive position right in the doorway. That way no matter how many of them there are, they can't gang up on you." Noel theorized.

"Great idea~You're pretty smart, kid. Nidoking, baby, you're up!" Cain sent out his main pokemon, blocking the doorway into the common room.

"Quickly, grab the boy!" The orderlies came back out and surrounded Noel.

"Noel!"

"Help!" They carried him off upstairs.

"If we hurry we can catch them!"

"Um, I'll follow you, Vero. Let's hurry!"

"Vero...please save him…" Anna pleaded. He bent down and put his hand on her head.

"Don't worry, we'll get him back. And then we can all spend as much time as you want together, Anna." She smiled and hugged him again.

"Let's go, Shelly." The two went upstairs, and fought through two pairs of Orderlies.

"...This won't do." One of them went and activated a gate, preventing them from going any further up.

"There, good luck getting past that!" He went upstairs.

"Oh no...Noel! What are we gonna do now? Maybe anna will know? Let's go ask her!" They went back downstairs.

"Um...We couldn't-They locked the door." Shelly explained.

"That's no good. How do they expect us to rescue anyone if they go and do a thing like that? Just as well~ I think there's a door-openy thingy in the lab! It's down that hall and to the left. We're not allowed to go in there. That's why I know all about it!"

"Thanks, Anna." They went and disengaged the lock after fighting through another two pairs of Orderlies. Up through the third and fourth floors were the bedrooms, but they weren't really bedrooms. All they were were two cots against the wall. Maybe a small dresser in every other one.

"So it's you doing this, Vero." Seemingly the head Orderly and his assistant stood in the middle of the fourth floor, guarding the computer that disengaged the gate to the top floor.

"When you were here before you were just staking out the place?"

"I came to get Shelly help, and then decided not to bring her here." he growled.

"Our responsibility to the children of Reborn will not be shaken. We will do as we must to protect them."

"And electrocuting and torturing them is protecting them?"

"I think you need to ask yourself who the real bad guy is…"

"That's not a question I'm allowed to ask. Similarly, this is a place that you're not allowed to be. Leave. Magnemite."

"Kadabra."

"Sandslash!"

"Heather!"

"Sandslash, use Dig!"

"Heather, Struggle Bug!" Sandslash burrowed underground and appeared under Magnemite, uppercutting it and defeating it. Heather created floating green orbs that went and knocked out Kadabra.

"Yanma!"

"Eelektrik!"

"Sandslash, use Slash!"

"Heather, use Ancientpower!"

"Yanma, use Ancientpower as well!"

"Eelektrik, use Discharge!" Sandslash ran over to Eelektrik and slashed it with its claws. It retaliated by releasing an electric blast that didn't affect Sandslash, but knocked out both Yanmega and Yanma.

"Anorith!" Shelly sent out.

"Venomoth! Use Bug Buzz!" It vibrated, making noise that hurt both Sandslash and Anorith.

"Anorith, Rock Slide!" It sent rocks flying down onto Eelektrik, knocking it out, as well as Venomoth, doing a lot of damage.

"Return. Magneton."

"Anorith, Rock Slide again."

"Sandslash, Dig!" Sandslash went underground again, and Anorith tossed rocks over. It defeated Venomoth and wounded Magneton a little.

"Magneton, Flash Cannon!" It fired a giant beam of silver energy at Anorith, defeating it as well. Sandslash came up from underground and once again uppercutted it, defeating the steel type.

"Last one. Slowpoke."

"Wormadam!" Shelly sent out her next one.

"Return, Sandslash! Go, Ampharos! Thunderpunch!" It punched Slowpoke back instantly defeating it.

"And that's that." Vero and Shelly returned their pokemon to their pokeballs.

"This is a building full of regrets." Vero went to the computer and input the command to open the living quarters. They went down to the third floor and found Noel.

"You haven't gotten Heather?"

"The door upstairs was locked…"

"Oh. Right. I think there's a spare key for that in the Doctor's private library, but that's usually locked."

"So how are we supposed to get in then?" Vero asked.

"I'm going downstairs. Maybe Anna will have an idea." Going downstairs, we noticed that Cain had pushed back the Orderlies into the Circuit room, and we joined him. Vero went over and opened Charlotte's cage.

"You guys actually pulled through."

"Of course we did. You really doubted us~?"

"You don't want me to answer that."

"Hey, we're good! ~Me and my friends are gonna do it right, you'll never see us run away from a fight~"

"You're singing at a time like this?"

"Yep!"

"You're a regular magical princess, aren't you?"

"Someday my prince will come and sweep me away! Charlotte dear, be my prince?!"

"That's….yeah, as if."

"This guy is good!" The Orderlies pushed back against Cain's Nidoking, who simply knocked them down.

"You don't know the half of it, but even I have standards. Get out of here! Whew. Good job Nidoking. Return~ I'm just gonna take a little break now."

"Well that's all good and well, but I still need my cigarettes. Their storage room is down that way. We're gonna need to break in."

"For drugs? Real good influence you are on the kids here."

"Don't sass me, princess. I was kidding about those. Our pokemon are being kept in there."

"Oh, that's important! Are you ready Vero?" Shelly asked.

"Yeah, let's do it." They barreled through another pair of Orderlies.

"All right, open the storage or I'll have Vero tear you to pieces."

"...Y-Yes, okay…" One of them easily complied, and unlocked the gate. Charlotte walked up to the shelf and picked up the balls.

"How gracious. Four sets of pokemon lined up-Charlotte, Anna, Noel, and-oh, Heather. I'll just be taking these. And that attractive looking pack of cigs. Hello, sexy. And finally, one private office key. Check. Alright, I'm good. Let's grab the girl and get out. I'll unlock the office door and give the twins back their stuff. Just meet us upstairs after you deactivate the gate."

 **X**

"Heather!"

"And the last guests arrive. Well, it's a party now, Doctor. What do you think? Have you got a diagnosis for your situation? I think I do: Royally fucked."

"Cute. Have you had your fun, Charlotte? We can deal with your incessant habit of acting out for attention in your own session. This is Heather's session presently, and you're interrupting it."

"Sorry Doctor. I'm afraid you missed the mark. I'm not the ringleader of this circus. They're here for the girl."

"L-Let her go right now!"

"You're just a liiiitle bit outnumbered, Dr. Geezer. I think you should probably just fold~"

"There's little point in denying that. But I would ask you to question if your impulses and wild charades are truly the best thing for this girl."

"They're better than lighting her up like a christmas tree! Now let her go, okay?" Anna yelled.

"Um...um, please let her go?"

Charlotte's Ninetails moved out of the way, and she walked up to him.

"Let the girl go, Doctor. Or I'll…"

"Agh!"

"Woah, you don't have to burn the guy."

"That's the real reason I wanted my cigarettes. I've had an urge to leave a scar like that for SO long. Don't you dare feel sorry for him, either. He's left far worse scars on my sisters and I."

"Enough. I care little for this power struggle; have it your way. Take the girl." Electivire let her go and backed up.

"Heather! Are-Are you okay?" She didn't respond.

"By the by, I have already taken the liberty of contacting the authorities about this incident. You will all shortly be apprehended."

"You bastard…"

"Welp, we got Heather, in that case I say we get out of here pronto."

"Okay, let's go! Quickly!" The rest of them ran downstairs, leaving Vero with Connel.

"You were the one in charge of this little escape, weren't you?"

"Yes. I meant what I said before. With Heather's parents dead, I'm in charge of her. And I don't care what the police say. What you're doing here is wrong, if if they won't help, then I'll just take care of you myself."

"Take care of me? You want to kill me?"

"More than you know. But not yet. Now's not the right time. Next time we meet, Doctor, will be your last." He turned and walked down the stairs.

"Vero! Come on! You're such a slowpoke! You could almost even be a Slowbro-no, a Slowking! Everybody's gonna meet up under Opal Bridge! You know, where the train tracks turn off into the underground? Let's go!" Vero left with Anna, going to where the others were.

 **X**

"There you are. So, look, we need a plan." Charlotte said, as the two showed up. "The police are going to be looking for us. They probably know we're going to try and escape the city, so the exits will be sealed. But this tunnel happens to run underneath the city, and comes out right in the Chrysolia Region. And it just so happens my sisters have a house there. We can lay low there until things cool down. 'Course that means smashing our way through here. I think I'll leave that bit to you, Vero."

"Sandslash, Rock Smash." He tossed a pokeball onto the ground, and his Sandslash came out, punching through the rocks blocking their way.

"Great. Onward then."

 **X**

"You would go to the Railnet, Charlotte. Of course, that was predictable."

"Excuse me, Doctor." Sigmund turned to the man that called his name. "I'm a huge fan of your work on ECT. I've found it very useful in my...operations. Doctor, I've understand that you've lost something. I believe that we can be of some benefit to each other."

 **X**

"Oh, come on. Turn on already. Ugh. The only way through passes through this door, and the computer won't even turn on to open it."

"What's it for, anyway?"

"Um, I-I think I know...I think it's the basement of the old Yureyu building. I read that they used to use it to import resources via the rail, so they had it run right through their HQ. They used to be the economic center of Reborn, but um, then...the earthquakes happened, and they were hit so hard they had to close. They also managed the city's electricity...so that went down, too. And then the entire city shut down until Ame restored it….Right?"

"So then it won't open because its probably still hooked up to the old power plant." Noel said, crossing his arms.

"Old power plant? Wait a second! That's where Mr. Shadow lives!" Anna said happily. "I bet if someone went up there and asked him to turn it back on, he would!"

"W-Wait, you mean Shade? The creepy looking-um...is...is he even um, human?"

"Who knows! He's really super nice though!"

"He never speaks. How would you know?"

"I just do. Hey, he's also a Reborn Gym Leader. Vero, Vero, Vero! I know! You should go up to the old power plant and ask Mr. Shadow to turn it back on and then fight him!"

"Ohhh, that's the place across Beryl Bridge, right?"

"I'll have Nostra tell him to unlock the door, so go quickly, okay~?"

"Yeah, sure. Leave it to me. I'll be back soon." Vero walked back towards Beryl.

 **X**

The old plant/gym was very big, and looked exactly like a run down factory.

"Another one?" Vero asked himself, looking up onto the mountain and seeing another Absol there, once again running off. Inside was extremely dark, too dark to see anything. But the lights would flicker on for just long enough to see two paths off of the entrance. He went to the right first, and found his way to a monitor. As he deactivated the front gate, the lights turned on, and he saw Corey fall off the bridge.

'Is he playing with my mind?' Turning around, he saw a ghostly figure above the ground, Shade himself.

"Shade? What are you trying to do here?" There was no response from him, and walking around him, Vero realized that he was just a vision, not the real thing. He continued further into the room, finding another monitor. As he turned it off, the lights went on again, and another vision played out before him. Amaria getting pushed over something by a woman with red hair.

'What was that? Who was that? Maybe Titania…?' He kept walking, going to the left side of the building, and finding a third monitor. Another scene played out before him. A middle aged woman with magenta hair getting cut down by a Garchomp.

'What's going on here? I don't even know some of these people...Are these events that haven't even occurred yet?' He navigated his way to a fourth monitor where another woman, one with green hair, was cut up and fell apart into pieces.

'Who the hell was that?' He decided not to worry about it too much, and went back into the entrance, all of the gates now gone. In the back was Shade, floating in the air.

"I take it you're not much of a talker, so I'll get straight to the point. I want to challenge you, and also turn the power back on. Think you can do that?"

"..." He remained silent, tossing out a pokeball, where a Gengar appeared. Vero grinned.

"Ampharos! Use Discharge!" Ampharos released a large blast of electricity, injuring Gengar and powering the lights, making it easier to see. It retaliated with Shadow Claw, knocking Ampharos back.

"Thunderpunch!" Ampharos punched it back, defeating it. He returned it, and the next one he sent out was Banette.

"Ampharos, Discharge again!" This time, it absorbed all of the electricity, making it go dark again, but dealing heavy damage to Banette. It countered with Shadow Sneak, hitting Ampharos again.

"Thunderpunch!" Banette used Destiny Bond, and the two were taken out together.

"Return." He sent out a Doublade.

"Charizard! Fire Fang!" It was super effective, and did a number on Doublade. It countered with Shadow Claw, which with the darkness made it stronger, and almost defeated it.

"Charizard, Flame Burst!" It roared and launched a blast of fire at it, harming it again. It once again used Shadow claw and defeated Charizard.

"Sandslash, Dig!" Sandslash burrowed underground and uppercutted Doublade, knocking it out. Shade's next pokemon was Trevenant.

"Return, Sandslash! Go, Unfezant! Air Cutter!" It blew its wings, the resulting winds slashing Trevenant, wounding it greatly. It used Nature Power, turning it into Tri Attack, which Unfezant dodged. It once again used Air Cutter, defeating the tree ghost. Rotom was sent out next.

"Return, Unfezant. Go, Meowstic! Shadow Ball!" Rotom countered with its own Shadow Ball, the two attacks clashing and exploding. Rotom then used Discharge, once again turning the lights on, and damaging Meowstic.

"Shadow Ball again!" Meowstic appeared behind it and fired a Shadow Ball, blasting it back. It used Pain Split, making their remaining stamina even.

"Shadow Ball!" The both of them fired Shadow Balls at each other, resulting in a double knockout.

"Return."

"..." The final pokemon he sent out was Chandelure."

"Unfezant! Air Slash!" It cut the fire ghost lantern with a wind slice. It then used Hidden Power, which made the attack Electric Type, dealing heavy damage to the bird.

"One more time, Air Slash!" They repeated the last round with another Air Slash and Hidden Power, wiping out Unfezant.

"Piloswine! Mud Bomb!" Piloswine launched a ball of powerful mud at Chandelure, almost defeating it. It retaliated with Flame Burst, taking out Piloswine in a single attack.

"Return. Sandslash! Finish this with Sand Tomb!" Chandelure became surrounded in a sand tornado, knocking it out.

"...Abyss favors the forsaken…." Shade spoke in an almost demonic voice.

"Return, Sandslash."

"...Omen Badge…...yours…...Gift." Both the badge and a dark purple TM floated over to Vero. Shadow Claw.

"...Power?...Activate. Observe." The lights turned back on, and revealed an enormous monitor covering the whole wall, Shade turning around and watching along with Vero.

 **X**

"Ah! It opened! Vero did it!" The first admin that Vero met, back in the Mosswater Factory, walked through the door.

"Oh. Greetings, all. This is even more convenient than I expected."

"And just who are you?" Charlotte asked angrily.

"That's of no consequence to you. Seize them." Multiple Team Meteor grunts came through and grabbed them, taking them all away. A final one came for Cain, but he backed up away from them.

"Shoot...Nidoking! Use Earthquake, now!" The ground was cracked open, creating a crevice between them.

"Ugh...There. Return, let's go!" He ran away.

"Sir?"

"Let him go. He's not part of our deal. We've got everything we need. Exactly what the Doctor ordered."

 **X**

"Damn it! There's something different about that one...he's not like ZEL or Taka…"

"...So dying souls offer the keys to your gain…..Let not them suffer to the poison in vain." he said, before disappearing.

"I'm not going to let them die." He growled, running off.

 **X**

Arriving back underground, he found a familiar face.

"Victoria?"

"Vero!"

"I'm SO glad to see you! I don't know what to do. I ran into Cain, and he told me that Shelly and a bunch of other children were kidnapped!"

"Where are they?!"

"They're being kept past there, but there's all this debris in the way. That said, a pokemon can move it, but...you don't have the machine for Strength yet, do you?"

"No. Damn it!"

"Hey hey, it'll be alright. Vero, do you remember before, I told you about Apophyll Academy? It's on the other side of Azurine Lake. Well, my sensei there, Kiki, actually has the machine. I told Cain and he ran off right away. He really wants to help those kids."

"I do as well. I'm sorry I didn't tell you about this before, but those kids are from the orphanage in Lapis, and weren't treated well, so we got them out."

"That's horrible…Vero, why didn't you tell me before?"

"Because I didn't want you involved. The police support Dr. Connel, and because of what we did, we're considered criminals now. I don't want that for you."

"...I see….But I think you did the right thing. If they truly didn't belong there, then it's good that you got them out. Thank you." She kissed him.

"Now then, I need to go to Apophyll."

"Oh, one more thing. You may have had it been smooth sailing with TMX's so far, but Strength is a little harder to use. You'll need the badge from the new poison leader, Aya. She's Cain's sister, and he's the one with the key to get into the wasteland, so we have to catch up with him!"

"Let's go then!"

 **X**

Cain was at the docks in Coral Ward.

"Cain!" The two ran up to him.

"Heyyyy. I guess you already know what happened, right? I destroyed the passage so that they wouldn't catch me, too. Guess I wasn't thinking. I'm gonna get back in there and save them. Heather, and Shelly, and- all of them. So I gotta get that machine from Kiki. But she's across Azurine Lake. The acidic water will damage any boat that tries to cross it. Don't worry though, I got this~ Even water types can't surf on it. Come on out, Muk!" He stepped on top of his pokemon.

"See ya, Vero! Trust me, I'll fix this!" They went off.

"Victoria, do you have a way over?"

"Yes, of course. It's a special train that goes deep underground from the Grand Hall.

"Good, go take that. I'll catch up with you."

"Are you sure? You could just ride with me…"

"No, Cain's right. A boat would be faster. And I know someone I can call for help."

"A-Alright then." She ran off back towards Opal, leaving Vero alone again. He took out his Pokegear and called Amaria, walking back into the Ward. He turned to the left, seeing a warehouse open, and the person he just called walking out, answering her phone.

"Oh. Wow." They both said, hanging up.

"Hello, Vero! What are you doing here?"

"I need to cross the lake."

"Normally there's a ferry from here to Apophyll Beach, but thanks to the poison in the water, the boat isn't running. Actually, I just found something out about that. I've been working with Ame to monitor the pollution in the lake and figure out its sources. But now it seems like almost all of the pollution is coming from one place: Blacksteam Factory up in west Peridot. I was just going to go up there to see if I could put a stop to it, but do you want to maybe come with me?"

"Yeah, that's perfect. Let's head out."

"Alright then!"

 **X**

"Alright, now we need to figure out a way into this place." They arrived, realizing that the front door, the only way in, was locked from the inside. She looked up onto the roof.

"Okay, I think this will work. Deliverance, I need you! Okay, use Waterfall, and then Ice Beam!" Her Lapras came out and made ice stairs that went up to the roof.

"Perfect! I can always count on you, Deliverance~ Now return! Shall we?" They went up, and into an open door, coming into the third floor of the factory. They were stopped by two Team Meteor grunts.

"Team Meteor...Well, I guess I shouldn't really be surprised, huh."

"Hold it right there!"

"No thanks. Help me out, Vero!"

"Golbat!"

"Lairon!"

"Ampharos!"

"Deliverance!"

"Ampharos, Thunderpunch on Golbat!"

"Deliverance, Ice Beam on Lairon!" They both knocked out the opposing pokemon in only a single hit.

"She's too strong! I'll go tell the boss!" One of them ran off.

"Great job, Vero! Now let's go quickly, before anymore come!" They went into the next room, finding themselves surrounded by grunts.

"We're pretty well outnumbered already...Vero. Do you trust me?"

"Yeah…?"

"Thank you. Then, get ready. Deliverance! Use Ice Shard right there!" Lapras separated the two grunts blocking the way further down the hall.

"Go, Vero, run!" He got between them, as the two grunts blocked her escape again.

"You're in for it now!"

"Atlantica, help me out!" She sent out a Kingdra. "Alright, guys. Let's do this! Don't worry about me, Vero, I'll be fine! Just find a way to shut down the factory and save Azurine Lake!"

He continued running down the hall, coming up onto their leader again.

"So it is you again. I did not expect us to meet again. That's a mistake I'll be correcting now. Goodbye." The floor under Vero fell out, and he plummeted down into a large holding cell with many other pokemon, all locked up. A single guard stood outside.

"Huh. We got a human in there? Weird. Ah well, have fun being imprisoned with all of the other pokemon stolen from our Daycare scam in Obsidia! You all are going nowhere!"

Vero walked around, examining the pokemon in the cages: Loudred, Abra, Roggenrola, Cyndaquil, Jigglypuff, Vanillite, Makuhita, and Lickitung.

'This could work.' **[A/N: This is actually how you do the puzzle as well, it's confusing the first time.]**

Vero walked over to the Loudred, where it yelled, making both Vero and the guard temporarily deaf. He walked over to the Abra, now awake, who bonded with his mind, giving him telekinetic powers. His hearing was also regained. He walked over to the Jigglypuff, teleporting it to the empty cage in front of the cell bars. He walked to the Loudred and lost his hearing again, and then to the Jigglypuff, who sang, making the guard fall asleep. Vero went to the Loudred again, waking the guard and Abra. He used Abra to teleport the Jigglypuff back, and then the Cyndaquil to the cage. Loudred once again yelled to make sure the guard didn't hear anything. Cyndaquil used Flamethrower, heating up the bars. Vero then teleported the Cyndaquil away, and put Vanillite in the cage next. It used Ice Beam, freezing the bars that were previously scalding. Vanillite was then moved, and Roggenrola was put in next, using Rock Blast to shatter the bars. Vero finally switched it out for Jigglypuff, once again going deaf, making the guard fall asleep, and then going to Abra to get his hearing back, walking out of the opening he made. **[A/N: It's possible to fight the guard if you want, but leaving him asleep is easier.]**

Going through the rest of the building, he fought off scientists and other Meteor Knights, and deactivated the gates into the final room.

He stepped out onto a large platform, floating on the poison purple water. ZEL, the leader, and a few other grunts and scientists were there as well.

"Oh, it's you. Um, you...you probably shouldn't be here." The Lumi part of ZEL greeted. The leader walked back over again.

"You're an annoyance. You meddle in dangerous affairs, but I'll congratulate you for cutting through my subordinates. Your reward: come, observe." Vero cautiously followed him to the back of the room, where a shiny Muk was hooked up to a Pulse machine.

(zEl) "They already know about the PULSE, sir. It was they who contributed to the destruction of the PULSE-Tangrowth project."

"I'm aware. But, Vero, this is slightly different from the one you have seen already. Look at this Muk. The machine to which it's attached drains its lifeforce and suffocates its spirit. Even its body gives way as it collapses drool into a mere puddle of itself. And now that your back is turned, Garchomp, Dragon Rush. Execute!"

"!" Vero didn't have enough time to turn around all the way before seeing the tall dragon standing over him, swinging its claw.

"Atlantica, quickly! Ice Beam!" Time finally seemed to start again as Vero saw Garchomp frozen. Amaria came in with her Kingdra a few seconds later.

"Hmph. You're lucky. I could have had you out of the way once and for all."

"Not on my watch!" Vero slowly glanced towards Amaria, slightly shaking from fear.

"Garchomp, return."

"Vero, are you okay? Phew! That was close. But I don't get it. This PULSE Machine floods the lake with poison. Why would you want to do that? You're destroying a beautiful lake and making life hard for Reborn City!"

"That's exactly why. They should leave. We'll do whatever it takes to evacuate the city. If their homes are destroyed by raging plants, or they can't even drink water anymore...Then they'll leave. All of them will. And since Grandview Station is destroyed, no more will arrive. This will become a vacant, ruined city again. As it should have stayed in the first place!"

"You're insane…" Vero breathed.

"You're awful!"

"Do not judge that which you do not understand. We have our motives. If you do not share them, you are an enemy."

"I'll never allow you to get away with it!"

"Interesting."

"Wh-What? Why did your tone change so suddenly?"

"That Sapphire Bracelet…"

"What, this? It was a gift, from Tania. You're not taking it, if that's what you think! Anything Tania gives to me is precious. I'll defend it with my life!"

"Suit yourself. Both are forfeit."

"Vero, try to deactivate the PULSE while I keep him busy!"

(Zel) "Like hell you will!"

(zEl) "It would seem your presence here is unnecessary."

(Zel) "So get the hell out already! Go, Glaceon!"

"Charizard, Fire Fang!" One hit, and Glaceon was knocked out.

"Damn it! Espeon!"

"Return. Meowstic, Shadow Ball." Meowstic blew Espeon back with its orb of darkness, before it retaliated with Swift.

"Dodge it and use Shadow Ball again." Meowstic obeyed, defeating Espeon.

"Return. Umbreon!"

"Return. Ampharos, Discharge." Ampharos used the energy from the field, blasting Umbreon into Oblivion."

"Damn iiiiiiiiitttttt! Return! Muk!" The Muk evolved into its Pulse form, the inside of its mouth becoming green, and random metal debris was part of its body of sludge.

"Return, Ampharos. Meowstic, Psychic!"

"Muk, Sludge Wave!" It barfed up a giant purple wave of poison from its mouth. Meowstic jumped up and used its mental powers to damage the pokemon, but landed in the purple slime, getting injured and poisoned.

"Now Discharge!"

"Psyshock!" Muk gathered the electrical energy from the factory, and released it in a giant electrical blast, defeating Meowstic.

"Tch. Return. Go, Sandslash! Use Dig!" Going underground, Sandslash attacked the Muk, injuring it further.

"Muddy Water!" ZEL made the Muk spit up brown water this time, knocking out Sandslash.

"Return. Piloswine, finish this with Mud Bomb!" It did as was told, and defeated the Pulse pokemon.

(zeL) "Ah...I'm sorry, I was too weak…Solaris, I-I'm sorry, we couldn't…"

"Useless. Haha. Yes, you are as useless as your worthless actions. So you stopped the PULSE? Too late. The lake is already too far gone. Speaking of gone, there's no point to us staying here. First, a parting gift. Tyranitar, Superpower. On the girl."

"AMARIA!" Vero shouted as the massive pokemon slammed into her, making her fall to the ground.

"Team Meteor, retreat." They all left, and Vero ran to Amaria, helping her to her feet.

"Good job on shutting that thing down, Vero...I'm-I'm okay...Just a little winded."

"Are you sure?"

"Y-Yeah…" Even so, she continued leaning onto his shoulder for support. "Well, now the water won't be polluted anymore. But he said...it's too late? It's true, a lot's been ruined, but in time, the Water Treatment Center under the city will clean it out. So, I think we did something really great today-ow!"

"Easy…"

"Th-Thanks...Deliverance, return! That attack might have hurt me a little bit after all...But, you still need a way to cross the lake, don't you?"

"Don't worry about that now, I'm more worried about you."

"Aw, you're sweet, but really, you seem a bit distraught. Okay...You can take my boat. It's true that the toxic water will probably destroy it if it's used, but...I get the feeling you need it now more than I'll need it later. So, here." She reached into her pocket and handed him the key to the north warehouse in Coral.

"That key opens my dock in the Coral Ward. You know where we first ran into each other? Help yourself to the boat."

"What about you?"

"Me? I think I'm just gonna go back home and rest for a while. Tania's probably waiting for me, too...Ahaha~ I live up in the Aventurine Region, north of Reborn City, so if you're ever in the area, please drop by! And...thanks for your help! Truly." She began slowly walking to the exit, before losing her balance and falling forward. But thanks to some quick reflexes, Vero ran to her rescue and caught her, lifting her back up.

"Th-Thanks…"

"Amaria." he said sternly, swiftly gaining her attention.

"Y-Yes?"

"Aventurine is far from here. I can't let you go all the way back there in this condition. You're staying with me until you're better. No arguments."

"Vero…"

"Okay?"

"...Okay." They began to walk back together slowly, until Vero decided he'd had enough of moving like molasses, and picked her up, holding her bridal style.

"Ah!" she gave a quick squeal, blushing, looking at him.

"It's quicker this way. I hope you don't mind."

"N-No, not at all…" she sighed, snuggling into his chest, smiling.

 **X**

Vero helped Amaria into his apartment, Julia sitting on the bed, reading.

"I'm back."

"Oh! Welcome home! But...Vero, I thought that if you were doing this, you were gonna tell me beforehand?"

"We're not here for that. Something happened, and she's hurt. I didn't want her going all the way home, so I brought her here."

"Oh no! What happened?!" She asked, quickly closing her book and jumping up off of the bed, concerned.

They laid her down on the bed, again making her flustered from all of the care and attention that they were giving her.

"What happened?" Julia asked.

"We were fighting Team Meteor together at Blacksteam Factory, and their leader, Solaris, had his Tyranitar use Superpower on her."

"Oh, Amy…" she sobbed.

"Julia, don't cry...I'll be alright."

"Where does it hurt?" She winced, glancing at her torso. The two carefully lifted up her shirt, finding a large bruise below her breasts.

"Damn...yeah, you're not going anywhere with that." Vero sighed.

"Oh…" she sighed, wincing again. They stood there in silence for a few moments before Julia snapped her fingers, like she had an idea.

"I'm gonna go fill up the bathtub. Soaking it is the best thing you can do right now, Amy." She went into the bathroom before she could protest, and they heard the sound of running water before long.

"Come on, let's get you in."

"A-Alright…" She slowly sat up and walked into the bathroom with him, Julia testing the water temperature with her hand.

"Feels hot enough...Alright, I'll go wait in the bedroom. Help her out, Vero?" she smiled, giving him a subtle wink. She really was the best. Closing the door behind her, Julia left Vero alone with Amaria.

"V-Vero, could you help me with my clothes…?"

"Yeah, sure." He pulled up a chair for her to sit on as he took off her boots and socks and placed them in their closet with the other shoes. Going back in, he then undid the tiny button under the folds of her skirt, removing it, as well as unbuttoning and removing her blouse, leaving just her skin tight gray shirt and matching leggings. She stood up and slowly lifted her shirt off of herself, her bra being the only thing that remained on her upper half. His thumb hooked inside of her pants, slowly pulling them down as well, as she held onto his shoulder for support while stepping out of them.

Standing back up, Vero's view of her displayed the girl as perfection. Her butt was not as big as Victoria's, but was still large and looked extremely firm. Her breasts were larger than any other he had met so far, clearly DD's. Her lower region was big as well, for lack of a better word, and seemed to be so smooth it would feel like velvet, when he got to that point anyway.

The polite girl blushed, the corners of her mouth turned into a small smile. It had been a while since she had been admired like this; by someone like him. She loved Tania, but as she explained to Julia before, she seemed so distant now, caught up in other things. Of course men and women alike had ogled her before, jealous of her body, or wanting to be with her. But they never cared for her as a person; they didn't love her. Vero was different. Julia had texted her that he was happy to spend time with her after her inquiry, and could tell that he was attracted to her, not just for her looks, but because she was close to his heart.

"Alright then...I'll leave you to it. Call for me should you need anything." Her smile quickly faded, a little disappointed that he wasn't staying.

"Vero, wait."

"Hm?" She blushed before smiling again.

"Could you help me with these too? Really, I don't mind."

"..." He sighed and smiled back at her. She turned around and moved her hair out of the way, allowing him to undo the clasp of her ocean blue bra, as it dropped to the floor. He then bent down, slowly pulling her panties to her feet as she stepped out of them, putting both articles of clothing on the counter. Everything was in plain view for him to see, and he was right the first time: she was an angel, a goddess. He helped her step into the tub and lower herself in, then going to the cabinet and putting some bubble liquid in while it finished filling up. She sighed happily as he walked to the door.

"Be back in a bit. Again, call if you need anything." She nodded and moved some of the bubbles up to her chest as she laid her head against the wall slightly. Vero went and laid down on the bed next to Julia.

"Vero, what's wrong?" she asked, noticing his mood. Amaria heard them through the wall and listened in. She hated to eavesdrop, but he had seemed down since the factory, and she was curious. After all, Julia might be the only one that he'd open up to.

"It's nothing, don't worry about it."

"No, I'm going to worry about it. You're not yourself. What's going on?"

"I'm...ugh...I'm such an idiot." He stood up, looking at himself in their dresser mirror.

"Why do you say that?"

"It was pointless to think that I could do anything to help here…" He turned back to her.

"Vero, what are you talking about?"

"You remember what I told you about what happened to me before? I wanted to come somewhere that was in need of a revolution, per se. Somewhere where I could make a difference, and so far, it seems like Reborn really needs that. But...once again, it seems like everything that I do doesn't help."

"...Vero, everything that you're doing does help."

"Does it though? Victoria told me the same thing just yesterday. I was with Corey when it happened. I could have talked him out of it if I just tried a little harder. But now he's dead. And today...Amaria saved my life. I've been fighting Team Meteor when they pop up, but Solaris could have killed me so easily. I'm no match for him right now, and to think that despite everything I'm trying to do, I could have died just like my family...it sickens me."

They sat in silence for a few minutes, Amaria looking down sadly. It seemed like she was finally getting a glimpse into that dark side that Julia mentioned. But she didn't know it was this serious...her problems almost seemed like nothing compared to his. Julia finally spoke up.

"Vero, do you know why I fell in love with you? Why you piqued my interest?" He said nothing, only glancing at her to listen.

"So many people in Reborn are...without hope. As long as they live here, they know that terrible things are going to happen to this city inevitably. And the worst part is that no one does anything about it. They sit there and accept their fate. But you...you're different. You and your friends, and you especially...you're the first trainers with good morals that we've had in a while. I'm going to tell you the same thing your friend Victoria told you. Don't stop doing what you're doing. Because you're the only one doing it. If we lost you, Vero...If I lost you...then there really wouldn't be any point in living here anymore."

Again, silence. Amaria closed her eyes for a moment, looking up at the ceiling. She wasn't really so different from those other trainers that Julia mentioned...she thought about her diary entry that she wrote back in school.

 _I don't know, diary. I know I have everything a girl could possibly want. I have lots of friends, an amazing partner, a great education and life...But it doesn't feel like it. I try to always smile and be cheery. I'm very good at it, apparently, or else I might not have made cheerleader captain! I guess I was secretly hoping that would make me happy on the inside, too. But I guess that was naive. I'm tired of feeling this way. I'm tired of feeling like I'm always drowning. Tania tries her best for me, I know that. And I appreciate it so much...But in the end, will it even make a difference? I'll see you in another meaningless tomorrow, with another false smile._

She was a hypocrite. Julia remained positive because few others do, but her happiness was genuine. Amaria never thought about it, but she practically lied to every person she ever met, without them knowing it. Of course, she never told anyone of how she truly feels. Not even Tania. Should she tell Vero? It might make both of them feel better…

"Amaria? Are you alright?" She gave a slight gasp as he opened the door, coming in.

"Sorry, did I startle you?"

"A bit...it's fine, I was just thinking. Yes, I'm okay." He went and sat down on the chair, Julia walking in.

"Feeling any better?" she asked her old friend.

"Yes, thank you. Although I feel like it will hurt again once I get out."

"At least it's only a bruise, Amy. It will heal. You must be tough to take a hit like that from a Tyranitar and come out with only that injury." she praised. The teal haired girl giggled cutely. Julia glanced at Vero, who again was staring off into the distance intently, as if he was watching something.

"Vero."

"Yeah?" he asked, surprised by her serious face.

"I want you to get in the bath with her." she motioned towards the tub.

"You want me to what?!" he yelled. Amaria blushed heavily. And it wasn't from the hot water…

"You're still feeling down, and I think you should take a bath as well and tell her about your problems. You don't mind, do you?"

"U-Um...no…" Amaria mumbled, her eyes wide.

"Good then. Get in."

"But Julia...if you want me to talk about what's bothering me, I can just talk to you."

"You already did, just now. You already have my input. I think Amy can give you better insight than I can, seeing as both of you were at the same place and saw the same things. Okay?"

He wouldn't get anywhere arguing with her. He'd just have to go along with it. After all, bathing with one of the girls of his dreams? He shouldn't pass that up, especially since she lives far away and this might be the last time he sees her for a while, considering what he had to go and do tomorrow.

"Yeah, yeah, alright."

"Okay, good." she smiled happily, skipping back into the bedroom, closing the door behind her. Vero sighed and looked at his friend one more time before proceeding.

"You know how she is when she gets like this...do you really not care?"

"No, not at all. I could use the company, actually."

"Okay." He took off all of his clothes as well, and got into the tub awkwardly, the two trying to figure out how they could both sit comfortably. They decided to let Vero's legs encompass Amaria's.

"So...tell me. Julia wants us to talk about what's bugging you...what is?" Though she already knew.

"It's...how do I put this...no, I should just be direct. Have you ever felt like what you're doing doesn't really make a difference in society?"

"Yes." she said immediately, surprising him. "Look, Vero, to save you the trouble of explaining again, I overheard your conversation with Julia."

"Oh, you did...Alright then. So then you know that I came here to change things."

"Yes…What I don't know is what gave that motivation." He looked up at her with a questioning glance.

"You want to know?"

"Yes. Julia may not, but I notice those fleeting moments of anger when you fight Team Meteor. There's nothing but hate and rage in your eyes. What made you that way?" she asked, concerned.

"Before I say anything, I want you to know that you're only the third person I've told about this. And I intend to keep that number small. Not everybody needs to know about my past. So please, don't tell anybody else on your own. I'll tell them myself when I deem it necessary."

"Of course." He took a deep breath before telling her everything. She listened intently, becoming more and more uneasy as he went along.

"...And so I decided with the money I had, that I would leave everything behind and make a new life for myself, in a place that I could help out. And so I chose Reborn."

"That's awful...not that part, but what happened to your family…" She stood up and then sat back down again in his lap.

"Amaria?" She hugged him as best as she could, as they were both facing the same way now.

"I'm sorry...but this is all I could think to do right now…"

"...It's alright…." He wrapped his hands around her stomach, careful not to touch her bruise and make it flare up again. She nestled herself into him.

"Vero? Can I tell you something I've never told anybody before?"

"Sure. I assume then that you don't want me to tell anyone else?"

"Yes, please don't."

"Okay. I'm all ears." She spoke in a softer tone now so that Julia wouldn't overhear them.

"You asked me before if I ever felt like my actions didn't change anything. Well, I completely understand where you're coming from. Living in Aventurine, I was a bit more privileged than most born in the city. As I'm sure you know, I attended the Onyx Trainer's School, and did well there, making lots of friends, falling in love, getting good grades, and also making cheerleader captain. But something always felt off to me, despite having all of these things. I realized that even though I come from money, and had everything going for me, I wasn't helping out in society at all. My life felt empty to me, because I knew that with the course I was on, I wasn't going to do anything to make Reborn a better place. I was only in it for myself. And so, to rid myself of that feeling, I forfeited the cheerleading squad to Julia, and instead became a Gym Leader, to cultivate new trainers and show them a better path. But…"

"That empty feeling still hasn't gone away, has it?"

"No...and at this point, I don't know if it ever will, either…" Vero sighed.

"Can I tell you something also? A few things actually…"

"Yeah…"

"The reason that I'm going to Apophyll isn't mainly for the badge. After Corey jumped off the bridge, I went down into the Lapis Ward, and Shelly, the gym leader there, recognized his body. But she's only 12, so she was traumatized by it. To help her, I visited Dr. Sigmund Connel, the local psychiatrist, and owner of the orphanage there. But...it wasn't at all what it should have been. Connel may be a genius and a powerful trainer, but he's a madman. The kids in there were being electrocuted by his Electivire as a form of shock therapy, to wipe their bad habits out of their memories."

"Oh my god…"

"This morning, Cain and I tried to track down Heather, Corey's daughter. We found her a few times, until she also went to Lapis to see Shelly. But, when she left the gym, the Doctor found her, and discovered that she was an orphan, since she was only 12 and had no living relatives or legal guardians. So he captured her, and we staged a breakout, taking her, Shelly, and three others with us: Charlotte, Noel, and his sister Anna."

"You didn't call the police for help?"

"We couldn't. As far as the city is concerned, he's still running a legitimate operation, and our break in was against the law. So we're technically criminals, even though we did the right thing."

"So...where are they now?"

"They were in the Underground Railnet, since Charlotte's sister has a house in Chrysolia, but when I beat Shade and turned the power back on, Team Meteor captured her, seemingly working with Dr. Connel. I don't know where they took them, but to get further into that cave, I need the Machine for Strength and the badge to use it, from Aya. As soon as possible."

"So that's why you called me earlier…"

"Yes."

"I'm sorry that these events have plagued you since your arrival."

"Don't worry about it. As I've said, that's my whole reason for being here, so...in a way, it's kind of good that I'm dealing with all of these things."

"You...You're really something, you know that?"

"...Thanks. Thank you, Amaria."

They didn't say anything for the rest of their bath. They simply held each other, their arms conveying their feelings.

 **End.**


	5. Different Perspective

Vero woke up early the next morning. He didn't get much sleep that night anyway. Thinking about the kids, and...reliving his sister's death...It was almost impossible for him to have pleasant slumber. Not to mention, that feeling he had about that admin...he couldn't quite put his finger on it, but it almost felt like...familiarity. Of course, he quickly shook those thoughts out of his head. Team Meteor was a new organization that started up in Reborn, so how could he possibly have met one of them before? He'd only been in the region for a week anyway. He laid back down, glancing to his right, where Julia occupied the other side of their bed. Amaria took the second bedroom next door. He hoped that she didn't feel too lonely.

Vero yawned and turned over, pulling Julia closer to him. She sighed happily, snuggling in and wrapping herself around him.

"Mm...What time is it?" she asked groggily.

"9. I should get ready." He kissed the top of her head and showered and dressed for the day. Before leaving, he checked in on Amaria, who was already awake, and getting out of bed as well.

"Oh, good morning." she smiled.

"Good morning. Are you feeling any better?"

"Yes, a lot, actually." She stood up, showing him that her bruise had already begun to heal.

"That's good...Julia's still asleep."

"Some things never change. She's up all day, and then crashes at night." They laughed softly. "You're leaving?" she asked, noticing that he was already dressed.

"Yes. I'm going to Coral immediately."

"I see. I'm gonna get ready, then head back home."

"Alright. Amaria, we may not see each other for a while now. With everything that I have to do…"

"I understand...just, keep your promise to me, and save those kids. Please, text or call if you need anything."

"I will. Trust me, I will." She walked up and kissed him quickly before pulling each other into a hug.

"Take care."

"You as well." Vero didn't stray any longer, going out to the Coral Ward to get on Amaria's boat.

 **X**

Sailing to Apophyll Beach was actually pretty smooth. Amaria didn't give her boat enough credit, it was actually fairly resistant to the water. After making his way to the academy, he searched around for Victoria, but found no sign of her. He did text both her and Cain last night that something came up and he wouldn't get there until the next day. But assuming that her underground train worked, she should be here by now. Instead, he decided to look for Kiki, who he found out was teaching a class just south of the building. Heading down there, he saw a bunch of people standing in a circle, with a middle aged woman with short magenta hair teaching them. The same woman from one of the visions at Shade's gym…She noticed him rather quickly.

"Greetings. Are you a new student?"

"Uhh...sure. Yes."

"I see. Welcome. Please, have a seat." He went and sat down near a few of the others. She was very calm and polite when speaking. She had a certain sereneness about her, a clear state of mind.

"Now, for today's lecture. We will review the basics of changing perspective. In our lives, we are often faced with troubling circumstances, which we feel we can do nothing about."

This piqued Vero's interest, almost as if this lesson was meant for him.

"However, by changing our perspective on these things we can change the effective reality of the thing in itself. Let us use a physical example to demonstrate. Consider the pokemon, Mawile. When seen from the front of its combat stance, some would argue that its horn appears grotesque. Yet when viewed facing it, we see a very different kind of pokemon, with what many would call a very sweet and cute appearance. In this case, our tangible perception influences our apparent reality. And further, understanding each perspective of Mawile contributes to a much greater understanding of the pokemon than many have when first seeing it. Now, let us apply this to our day-to-day lives. Suppose you are, for instance, confronted by a man who rather aggressively petitions you for money. He smells unpleasant, and perhaps he makes some offhand remark about your appearance. To many of us, this man represents a problem. He may be judged as offensive or disgusting. At the least, he could be considered an annoyance. Let us attempt to shift our perspective of this man. A proud father loses his job after his corporation closes. He applies at several other places, but unfortunately, nothing pans out. Most positions get filled by other employees from his former company. He depends on his few friends for a time, but they soon distance themselves from him, afraid that he is taking advantage of their kindness. Now alone as he is poor, he finds his confidence in his ability to provide for his daughter shattered. He applies for entry-level positions, desperate to take anything...but even those employers are quick to dismiss him, thinking him overqualified and under-groomed. He has several leads to get his life back together, but he needs time to hear back from them. Meanwhile his daughter is growing hungry. She already only eats one meal a day. Determined to do what he must in order to provide for her, he begins approaching random strangers. More often than not, they look down on him. Occasionally, pity pays for his child's dinner. And at night he returns to a home he knows he won't have for much longer, having successfully changed a half empty cup of spare change into a meal. His daughter smiles, gracious for the food, and not quite understanding that hers was not the standard for living. She eats her second peanut butter sandwich of the night. He fills himself solely on her gratitude. Of course, these two descriptions are of the same person, but two very different sides of him. Can you, as a passerby, again look at that man, demanding just a few bills from you, in the same way? Having seen another side of his story, can you still see him as a simple annoyance? Perhaps a city that is sick with homelessness and unemployment, is just a city that is bursting with the desire to live. That will be all for today. Thank you."

Everyone dispersed, going back to their own agendas, with only Vero and Kiki remaining. She glanced back at him, noticing that he was looking up at the sky, thinking about something intensely. She walked up, introducing herself.

"Hello again. Please allow me now to formally welcome you as a student of Apophyll Academy. We are honored to have earned your faith, and I look forward to observing your diligence and growth in the coming weeks. I'll assign you a dormitory and schedule as soon as we return to the Academy."

"A-Actually…"

"Hm?"

"I'm sorry for the false pretenses, but I'm not here to become a student. I'm here for the gym battle and the TMX."

"You came seeking the Machine for Strength?"

"Yes."

"It is in my possession. However, it is only typically awarded to graduating students of the Academy. Everything in due time. For now, please meet me in my room at the Academy, and we will officially enroll you."

"B-But…" She had already begun walking back to the academy, though.

"...I guess I'll just have to explain the real situation to her."

 **X**

"Vero!" He turned around to find Victoria standing in the doorway. "I finally caught up to you!"

"There you are! Where have you been?!"

"The guard put me on the wrong train…" she laughed nervously. "So I didn't get here until today either…"

"Ah…"

"Victoria, is that you?! I thought you left for training?!" One of the other students approached us.

"Yes, I was going to, but so many other important things have been happening. We have to speak to Kiki at once. Is she in her room?"

"I think I just saw her come in."

"Okay, good. I'm going ahead." She went into the back room.

"Are you Victoria's friend? You're very lucky! She's the top student here at Apophyll!" She directed to Vero. "Everyone loves her, and Kiki even took her as a personal apprentice!"

"I see…" He continued to the back, walking in on the two of them.

"I see. So you need the machine to save the kidnapped children. Incidentally, this new student also came to me asking for that. I do not suppose that is coincidence?"

"No, not at all. This is Vero, my...boyfriend. We're working to save them together."

"Boyfriend, eh? You never told me that?" she laughed softly, smirking at the two of them, making Victoria blush. "Right. Truly, I am moved by your plight. However...As you well know, Victoria, I can only award that Machine to a graduating student of the Academy. One must attain inner strength before acquiring worldly strength. And to disregard that procedure is to disrespect every student who has followed it before."

"Then, Sensei, I wish to apply for graduation."

"So you will. I suspected you might finally ask. This may be best, given my worsening condition."

"Sensei…"

"But nevermind that. We mustn't let inner turmoil complicate outside affairs. Victoria, were you successful in your challenge of the Reborn League, as I had asked of you?"

"I admit, Sensei, I was not. So much was going on that I had other priorities."

"I see. That is unfortunate, being that the Machine requires a certain badge. And how about yourself, Vero?"

"Vero can do it! He has lots of badges already, one more won't be a problem!"

"Sure. I don't think I'll have too much of a problem."

"So you intended to pass off the Machine to an outsider regardless. I suppose it cannot be helped, but knowing that that is your intention, I must test Vero as well. Victoria, you will stay here and test for graduation. Vero, your challenge lies elsewhere. As you should know, Apophyll lies in the shadow of one Pyrous Mountain-a volcanic mountain. After all, it is the ash therefrom that grants the beach its grey hues. Atop Pyrous Mountain is one of my newest, though finest, students."

"That's-Oh, goodness!"

"Have faith in your companion, Victoria. Climb the mountain. Find my student. Challenge him. If you are successful, you may have the machine. Good luck."

He nodded, walking out of the room. Victoria chased after him as soon as he walked out the main entrance.

"Vero!"

"Yeah?"

"Sorry, I just wanted to wish you luck. The student Kiki is talking about, his name is Cal. He was actually once the Fire type Leader for the Reborn League, but he retired and came here after something bad happened. Anyway, he's really strong. And sort of cute-I mean…"

"Oh, really?" he teased.

"I did not just say that. Oh, yes! In order to get very far into Pyrous Mountain, you may have to drain the lava from the upper floors. If you look, there should be choke points in between the levels, and sometimes they get clogged up. Just give the right one a good smash to clear it and you'll be good to go! Say hi to Cal for me, please? And don't worry about my test. I AM the top student at Apophyll Academy for a reason. Good luck." She leaned over and kissed his cheek before going back inside.

Vero began navigating his way through the cave, following Victoria's instructions about the lava, and even catching a Heatmor, not to use actively, per se, since his fire coverage was in Charizard, but because he liked the pokemon. At the top of the mountain was a pool of lava, and at the very edge was a man, around Julia and Amaria's age. He wore a maroon shirt and matching pants, both with lighter red lines on them, making a kind of fire design. He wore light red shoes, and had short fiery red hair.

He seemed to be meditating, and so didn't address Vero for a minute or two. After a final exhale, he spoke up.

"...Hi. Can I help you? Kiki sent you here too, huh? To battle me? I haven't had a serious battle since I resigned as Gym Leader. And even then, I was misguided. I had let anger drive and control me. That's why I came here: to learn to let go of the rage I felt towards my brother. Everything I'd ever done was just to try and prove myself better than him. You're challenging the Reborn League now, correct? Have you met a leader named Shelly?"

"Yeah, I know her well."

"How is she? Timid, right? That might have been my fault. I used to keep her around. Watch over her. She and I connected on some level. We were both always scorned by our brothers, and our families. Blake...he always got the attention. He got all the praise for everything, and then anything I ever did was just a sloppy second. Back then I was too full of rage to see that he was the source of my anger. But Shelly understood. What she didn't understand was that my anger wasn't directed, like hers, towards trying to earn his love. She said something backwards, and it set me off. I reacted terribly and-I regret hurting her more than anything else. And yet, because of it, I was finally able to change. Look at me, just rambling on." He finally turned around and faced Vero.

"Sorry. I suppose being assigned to meditate alone for days on end has that effect on people. I can see clearly now, but the source of my energy is exhausted. Formerly rage, and now, what do I have? Perhaps I'll stop talking and find out in a battle with you. Infernape!"

"...Very well. Unfezant! Air Slash!"

"Infernape, Flame Wheel!" The two hit each other, but Unfezant hurt Infernape more, thanks to its fighting half.

"Air Cutter!" The whirlwind that started slashed Infernape across the front, defeating it.

"Return. Typhlosion."

"Return, Unfezant. Go, Sandslash! DIg!" It burrowed underground, getting ready to strike.

"Typhlosion, Sunny Day." The sunlight intensified, and Sandslash came out, destroying its opponent with a hard punch.

"Return. Magmortar!" He sent out his ace. "Use Solarbeam!" It took in sunlight and fired a beam of green energy at Sandslash that knocked it out instantly.

"Return, Sandslash. Go, Ampharos! Use Power Gem!" The electric pokemon stomped on the ground, making a flurry of rocks and debris float, before they flew at Magmortar, defeating it.

"Go, Delphox!"

"Power Gem again!"

"Dodge it and use Mystical Fire!" It jumped up and took out its torch, igniting it and tossing the flame at Ampharos, who took some damage.

"Power Gem again!" As Delphox landed, it was hit hard, knocking it back.

"Delphox, Psyshock!"

"Discharge!" Ampharos was faster and electrocuted it, defeating it.

"Return. Charizard!"

"Ampharos, Discharge!" It once again discharged energy, defeating Charizard already.

"Return. Blaziken! Use Blaze Kick!" It gathered flames onto its foot and smashed its foot into Ampharos, injuring it heavily.

"Ampharos, Power Gem!" It hit Blaziken, but the pokemon still seemed good to go.

"Fire Punch!" This time it punched Ampharos up into the air, knocking it out.

"Return. Go, Unfezant! Use Air Slash!" Its wind sliced it across the front, knocking Blaziken back.

"Bulk up, then Blaze Kick!" It gathered power, raising its attack, then used Blaze Kick, destroying Unfezant in a single kick.

"Return, Unfezant! Charizard! Wing Attack!" Charizard finished Blaziken off with a Wing Attack, making Cal return his final pokemon.

"...Hm. I seem to have lost my fire after all. Perhaps it's for the best. I only ever started training Fire types to beat my brother's Ice. How stupid of me. In any case, you can go and tell Kiki that you defeated me. I'll be staying up here. I've got things to finish. Er, meditation, that is." Vero nodded and went back down to the academy, thinking about what Kiki taught him.

To look at things from another perspective...It seemed like the kind of lesson that would apply to his situations, but he couldn't really see Team Meteor or Dr. Connel in a different way. At least not yet; he didn't know enough about them. But in any case, he didn't think that that's what she meant. The example she used was simply a homeless man, not a criminal organization and a tyrannical doctor. Was it possible for him to look at his family's deaths in a different way? In a way, because of that, he came to Reborn to help. If they weren't dead, there wouldn't be anyone to combat Team Meteor and stand up for the people…..Maybe it wasn't the event itself, but the way he was acting about it. Julia was right...even though she told him not to, he's still been distancing himself from his friends...he's been consumed with revenge. Vero sighed, going back into Kiki's room.

"Sensei, please! If you keep pushing yourself you're going to hurt yourself!"

"No. Willpower...is a muscle. I will...not let...mine slip...away. I have always said: One must fight hard to defeat the chaos inside. This is my chaos. Please allow me to fight it. Oh, Vero. You've returned."

"Are you alright?"

"Oh, don't worry about me. As I just said, I will combat this. I'm perfectly fine. I was only...winded."

"How was Cal?" Victoria asked. "Er, I mean, were you able to beat him?"

"Yes."

"So you did. I see. Victoria, too, has already been informed of everything she must do. That means there is only one thing left to do. Vero, you will face me in an official Reborn League match. If you win, you will have your badge, and more importantly, your Machine. I will be waiting in the courtyard." She began to walk out of the room before stumbling.

"Ugh...Apologies. I am all right." The two lovers were left alone in the room.

"Why does it have to be like this?"

"I don't know...this region is a cold and cruel place. I'm beginning to understand that myself."

"...Do you regret your decision? Of coming here?"

"Never." He smiled at her before walking out towards the courtyard. She sobbed before running after him.

"Vero, wait! I have to tell you something. When you were gone, Kiki didn't give me the graduation exam at all. Instead she just, showed me how to run things around the Academy. Gave me an overview on policies, and...Vero, Kiki is dying." He could tell from her little episode when he came in.

"She's been sick for months, but she's tried her hardest to hide it from everyone. She only told me before. Apparently there's no cure. And...I think she intends for me t o take over when she...Nevermind, but, Vero: The point is, I don't feel good about you fighting her like this! We'll convince her to give us the Machine some other way…"

"There is no other way, Victoria. If she's running out of time, then this is all we can do."

"But battling takes so much of a toll on her, I just can't let you do it. I'll stop you myself if I have to! If you can't beat me there's no reason at all that you should even try to fight Kiki!"

Despite having a stronger team than she had previously, i.e. Scraggy, Heracross, Hariyama, Emboar and Gallade, her moves were sloppy compared to previous times, and it didn't take Vero long to defeat her.

"...It's for the kids, right? They're more important than she is, right?" 

"Victoria, it's not like that."

"...I'll just go." She walked out to the arena, standing on the sideline as the referee. Vero followed, taking his place opposite of her.

"Vero, let us see how well your discipline holds you."

"...The challenger, Vero, will now face the Gym Leader, Kiki, in a six on six battle. Either competitor can make substitutions. The battle will end when all six of either trainer's pokemon are unable to battle….Begin."

"Very well. Machamp."

"Meowstic. Let's go, Psychic!" It used its mental powers to lift Machamp into the air and slam it back down into the ground, almost defeating it already.

"Machamp, Rock Slide!" It picked up multiple rocks and threw them, falling towards the pokemon. Meowstic was knocked back.

"Finish this with Psyshock!" Psychic projectiles homed in on Machamp, defeating it.

"Return. Toxicroak."

"Meowstic, Psychic." Due to the 4x effective bonus, Toxicroak was wiped out instantly.

"Return. Hitmonlee. High Jump Kick." Hitmonlee flew forward and hit Meowstic back, knocking it out.

"Great. Return, Meowstic. Go, Unfezant! Use Air Slash!" As expected, a flying type attack kicked around the ash and sand on the field, so after the attack hit Hitmonlee, both pokemon lost some of their accuracy. Ame advised him about the field as he came back down the volcano, but since Meowstic was already out, he had to take care of her team with his other pokemon.

"Hitmonlee, use Knock Off."

"Dodge it and use Air Slash again." Unfezant flew up, avoiding the attack, and once again flapped its wings, hitting Hitmonlee again with a slice of wind, defeating it.

"Return. Gallade, it's your turn."

"Unfezant, Air Slash!" Gallade was hit and knocked back, but survived with a good amount of its health and stamina intact.

"Rock Slide." Gallade kicked up rocks and sent them flying at Unfezant, heavily wounding the bird and knocking it out.

"Return. Alright then, Charizard! Wing Attack!" Charizard flew out of its pokeball and slashed Gallade across the front, defeating it.

"Return. Lucario. Use Psychic." Lucario's attack hit Charizard and did a fair bit of damage, but it recovered quickly.

"Use Flame Burst!" Charizard blew fire out of its mouth, exploding upon contact with the pokemon, heavily injuring it.

"Now finish it with Fire Fang!" It flew up and chomped on the Lucario with flames in its mouth, making it faint.

"Return. Medicham. Use Meditate." It focused its power, raising its attack.

"Charizard, Wing Attack!"

"Dodge it and use Ice Punch." The Medicham leaped into the air, avoiding Charizard, and flew down, punching it with cold energy. Even though Ice is neutral to Fire Flying, Charizard still took a lot of damage due to Medicham's increased power.

"Charizard, Wing Attack!" It quickly got up and slashed Medicham, knocking it back.

"Strength." It jumped over to Charizard and slammed into its stomach, defeating the fire dragon.

"Return. Ampharos! Discharge!" Ampharos unleashed a blast of electricity that destroyed Medicham, winning Vero the battle.

"...And all was silent. Return."

"Return."

"Amidst true focus, your energy shines through. Your hard work has earned you this. Proceed, take-Excuse me, I-" That was all she could say before collapsing.

"Kiki!" They both yelled, running over to her.

 **X**

"..."

"There you go. Just focus on your breathing." Victoria and Vero eased her into her hammock in her room. "Like in Beginning Meditation, right? Keep it steady. You're okay."

"Am I? There's no longer any point to keeping up a facade of serenity. After a display like that-collapsing in the courtyard...My glass reputation is already shattered."

"Nobody could be as strong as you have through all of this. Look at everything you've done, all the people you've made happy, and-"

"And in the end, for as strong as I've been, I'm still too weak."

"Please calm down."

"How can I? 'Defeat the inner chaos?' Did you think I was only talking about zen of the mind? I could be centered to dead-zero and I will still end up just that. No amount of meditation is going to change the simple fact that my body is killing itself!"

"Right…." Victoria ran out.

"Victoria!" She turned to Vero. "Please leave me. I wish to be alone right now."

"Fine. But remember Kiki, when I came here, you taught me to look at things in a different perspective. Try doing that with yourself." He went out as well, leaving the Gym Leader stunned and distraught. Victoria greeted him outside.

"I've never seen Kiki get upset like that before. But then, I've never seen her faint before, either. She must be going through so much. I understand if she just needs to rest alone for a while. I'll try and keep things together, so she can hopefully get better. And I'll be sure to get the Machine from her, too. And your badge, of course. Although, if she doesn't make it, that badge would be reset. Anyway...there's something that's been bothering me. Wasn't Cain coming to challenge her too?" Vero's eyes widened.

"You're right…"

"Kiki said he was never here."

"He left before me though. He sailed across the lake on his Muk. He should have been here long before now."

"I think it's very strange. Could he have gotten lost? I mean, it's kind of hard to miss a beach as big as this one. But, I think there is one place between here and there. That is, Azurine Island. I think if he's anywhere, something must have happened to him there. Would you go and look for him? After all, he still has the key to get into the Wasteland. I'll take care of Kiki, so don't you worry about her."

"Alright. I'll be back soon, hopefully."

 **X**

Maneuvering his way around Azurine Island was somewhat challenging, due to all the trees and Foongus disguised as pokeballs. But eventually, he made it to a sort of cabin.

"Hello! Was not expecting you here."

"Hmph, you again!"

"Oh look, tweedle dee and tweedle dum." Vero addressed Aster and Eclipse.

"Shut up! Come trying to find your friend again, have you?"

"But I'm afraid you're too late! We captured him already. Boss' orders of course."

"They told us that he escaped a previous ambush. We had to correct that mistake."

"Hey Eclipse, is it just me, or is someone outnumbered?"

"I believe so. You've always had a friend to help you before. And now?"

"Game over."

"That's what you think." Vero proved strong enough to defeat both of them.

"...Welp."

"That's disappointing…But just as well. Good luck finding your friend~ You'll need it."

"Yeah, we've gotten him hidden away here good!"

"Aster, for once could you shut up? Like, just once, please? You just TOLD Vero that he's here. Ugh! Nevermind. We're gone. See ya!" They both left.

"...Fucking idiots." Vero walked up to one of the machines, which moved to the side, revealing a hidden door and hallway. At the end was Taka, a Camerupt, three grunts, and a locked up Cain.

"Yes, yes, Camerupt is ready. Let's get going shortly, alright? Oh, hey, Vero. Didn't expect to see you down here."

"Heyyyy, Vero!"

"Oh, yeah. Guess you came for your friend, huh? Sorry about that. We were kinda ordered to capture him, and well, he happened to be sailing right by, soooo….yeah."

"I am but a damsel, imprisoned and distressed! Vero, save me, my darling prince!"

Both Vero and Taka sighed.

"But how did you find us?"

"Your two grunts can't keep their mouths shut."

"Of course. This island was meant to be for breeding Pokemon and repopulating the region, but since we closed it nobody should be coming here. Even this building was just an observation center-Well, before we hijacked it anyway."

"Yeah, and now they're trying to attack Apophyll!"

"With that Camerupt, I assume?"

"Well...Yeah, that's the plan. Take a PULSE up there, take Camerupt up there. You probably know, Pyrous Mountain is the last active volcano in Reborn. So we just have Camerupt use a little Eruption attack, and that's bye-bye Apophyll. That's one pocket of civilization wiped off the map and off our to-do list. Anyway, we were also ordered to capture you. And since you sorta just waltzed in here...Yeah, that's a thing.

Without wasting another moment, his expression darkened as he tossed out a pokeball, a Klefki appearing from it.

"Have it your way. Charizard, Flame Burst!" Charizard breathed fire, hitting the Klefki and heavily damaging it.

"Klefki, Foul Play." They key ring transformed into a ball of purple energy and flung itself at Charizard, injuring it.

"Charizard, Fire Fang!" The dragon flew up and chomped on it, defeating it.

"Return. Gligar!"

"Return! Piloswine!"

"Gligar, use Acrobatics!" The winged pokemon flew around the room at a blinding speed before crashing into Piloswine, knocking it back.

"Piloswine, Icy Wind!" Piloswine cried out, blowing a stream of cold wind, ice and hail at Gligar, who was frozen and defeated thanks to its 4x weakness.

"Return. Cradily!"

"Stay in, Piloswine! Ice Fang!" It rushed up and bit Cradily with cold fangs, hurting the pokemon a great deal.

"Cradily, use Giga Drain!" It sapped the strength from the pokemon, almost defeating it.

"Piloswine, finish this with Icy Wind!" It once again blew a blizzard towards it, finishing the job.

"Return. Chatot!"

"Piloswine, Icy Wind once more!" It did it again and wounded the bird greatly.

"Chatot, use Heat Wave to finish it off!" The bird cried and flapped its wings fast, creating a large wave of fire that consumed Piloswine, knocking it out.

"Return. Ampharos, use Discharge!" Ampharos came out and used its strongest attack, defeating the bird pokemon as well as Taka's last team member.

"Return. Welp, I tried. Looks like I don't have a choice but to let you go this time, huh? Team Meteor, prepare to retreat. Bring Camerupt with us. And I guess we'll just have to hope Vero doesn't try to stop us. It'd be a right shame if he did. Saving all those people? We'll see you up there, Vero." He clenched his fists as they walked out, knowing that he couldn't stop them due to his pokemon being tired from the last few fights as well as having to free Cain. Speaking of which…

"Phew! I knew you'd come for me~ Hey, what's that look for? I was just kidding about the damsel and prince thing...Geez~ You can still be my prince if you want."

"No thanks."

"Nevermind that for now. We have to hurry! If we don't get over there fast, those freaks are gonna make Pyrous erupt and destroy Apophyll! I'm gonna head over there right now-without getting captured this time, hopefully-and stop them! Come quickly!"

 **X**

Vero ran back up the front steps of the academy, Victoria coming out to meet him.

"Vero!"

"Victoria!"

"Cain already told us everything that happened! Come inside; Kiki wants to talk to us all!" They went to her room, with Vero, Victoria, and Cain all standing near her.

"So you're all here...good. I cannot speak much, nor long. We already saw the Meteors pass through, and they've begun climbing the mountain."

"They're going to use a machine to make a Camerupt react with the volcano and erupt!"

"If that happens then the academy and everyone here will be…"

"From what I've been told of their motives, I can only assume that it is more than that. The two may be separated by the toxic lake, but if Apophyll is destroyed, the city will be hurt as well. Though we reject the technology which festers in Reborn, we are two sides of the same coin. Reborn, outside the city and within, is one whole. If one part is lost, the balance will be broken. The power will shift to their favor. We must stop them, and time is short. If they've already begun, our only hope is that Cal can hold them off for long enough. But you must hurry to aid him. I-...I-A-Ah…"

"Take it easy, Sensei! You have to conserve your strength!"

"There isn't time for that."

"No, there has to be. You leave this to us. Vero. Cain. Please. I'm going to stay with Kiki to make sure she's okay. I'm trusting you two to help Cal and stop Team Meteor. All right?"

"Don't have to tell me twice! Vero, I'm going ahead! Let's go quickly!" The two of them left together, beginning to climb the mountain. Guarding the entrance was a Meteor Grunt. Cain sent out his Nidoking. They stood at a stalemate, the guard seeming unfazed.

"So you're really not gonna move?"

"No, sir. Them's my orders. No entry. No battle."

"And so you're not gonna send out your pokemon either. You're just gonna stand there?"

"Yes, sir. And you aren't going to pass. Because that's what I'm here for!"

"...Kay. Nidoking~?" The pokemon walked up to him and pushed him down the ledge, making him fall a bit.

"H-Hey!"

"So anyway, let's get going, yeah?" Cain went on ahead. When Vero stepped inside, he heard Victoria's voice behind him.

"Vero! I caught up to you! Kiki made me leave her. She said there was nothing I could do for her. I know she's right, but...I don't like it. You know the way to the top, right? I'll just follow you then." The two of them fought their way through a few pairs of grunts and knights before arriving outside, near the summit.

"Hey, Vero, when you battled Cal, what did you think of him?"

"Hmm...In a way, I could see part of myself in him, I guess."

"Wow...good answer. Ever since he first came to Apophyll, I've thought he was really cool."

"Ironic considering he's a fire type trainer."

"Oh, haha. He was helpful, and eager-A little shy, but, well, that's cute, right?"

"Depends on what kind of guys you're into."

"I think once all of this is over, maybe I'll tell him how...Well, nevermind. Let's just focus."

"...He's the one you were talking about. The one you have a crush on."

"Well...yeah...is it that obvious?"

"Well not at first, no, considering I never met the guy and you never mentioned his name. But once I got here, and Kiki suggested challenging him, you seemed to get all flustered when you thought about him."

"Hm...Perhaps I was too forward in my emotions...I'm sorry for the other night...To you, it must seem like I'm toying with you, leading you on like that, and sleeping together, only to say that I love someone else…"

"No, not at all. Victoria, the only reason I'm allowed to date other women is because both Julia and I want to see Reborn become a better place. And that means not just the state of the city itself, but also the citizens. If I helped you sort out your feelings, then it means I helped you as an individual. And that's all I wanted in the first place. I mean, sure, you're beautiful, and kind, and smart, and I'd love to be your boyfriend, but it's up to you whether I am or not." He smiled at her.

"Vero...thank you." She hugged him, and they continued up the mountain, seeing Cain, Cal, Taka, and Solaris facing each other.

"Cal!"

"Victoria?"

"Were you defeated already?"

"Uh, about that…"

Vero's eyes widened as he realized what was going on, and his upstanding and unique opinion of Cal just went down the drain.

'You bastard…'

"Ugh, I couldn't take both of them at once…" Cain said, stepping back.

"You did enough, Cain, thank you." Vero and I will take it from here!" She stepped forward towards Taka.

"I'm not letting you lay a finger on Cal, or anyone else in Apophyll!"

"How amusing. And Vero is here, too. I writhe in fear at what you yapping pups could possibly do." Solaris mocked.

"Hey, Vero, Victoria, we don't have a whole lot of time. Look!" Cain pointed over the pool of lava, where Camerupt was hooked up to a Pulse Machine.

"As soon as that machine builds up enough energy in Camerupt, the whole place is gonna blow!"

"And you are not permitted to interfere. Taka, deal with the girl."

"Yes, Father." He replied, stepping forward.

"Woah, you're that creep's son?!" Cain asked.

"Seems so."

"I'll deal with Vero. It won't take me more than a single pokemon to defeat him. In fact...send all of yours out at once. Let's make this interesting."

"You want that much of a handicap?"

"The handicap is my decision to use a single pokemon. Now stop talking and lose to me." He tossed out a pokeball, his Garchomp appearing from it.

"...Fine then. Charizard, Ampharos, Sandslash, Piloswine, Unfezant, Meowstic!" All six of Vero's pokemon were sent out at once, facing Solaris' Garchomp.

"Meowstic, Psychic! Sandslash, Dig! Piloswine, Icy Wind! Unfezant, Air Slash! Ampharos, Discharge! Charizard, Flame Burst!" The pokemon all used some of their strongest moves, but they all did little to affect Garchomp. It shook off every attack.

"Garchomp, Earthquake." It roared and struck the ground with its claw, making it shatter. Piloswine, Ampharos, Meowstic, and Sandslash were all defeated instantly.

"Damn it...return, all of you!" Vero brought them all back to their pokeballs.

"Finish it with Stone Edge." Pointed rocks flew up from the ground, quickly knocking both Charizard and Unfezant out.

"Return…" Vero sighed and looked at Solaris intently.

"Woah, Vero…"

"Huh? He beat Vero? No way…"

"Please stand aside." Vero turned around to find Kiki walking up behind him.

"Sensei! You should be resting at the Academy! You're too weak!"

"Stand back, Vero." She ordered, ignoring her student's plea. "I will take care of this. Medicham."

"No matter how many of you there are, you cannot stop it. The PULSE will reach its full capacity any second now."

"Therefore...Medicham, destroy that infernal machine!"

"Cal! Stop her!"

"Magmortar!"

"High Jump Kick!"

"Catch it!" Cal's Magmortar caught Medicham by the foot and held it in place.

"What are you doing?!" Victoria screamed.

"Just as I thought…" Vero said, catching the attention of everyone.

"You are a smart one...it seems I don't give you quite enough credit, Vero." Solaris smirked.

"Sorry, Victoria. I know this isn't what you thought of me. I guess I have a habit of not really being what people want me to be."

"Y-You're betraying us?"

"Dispose of it." Solaris ordered.

"But-"

"Do it. Now!" Cal watched him for a moment before nodding at his Magmortar, who threw Medicham into the Volcano, burning to nothing in the lava.

"Sorry, Sen-...Kiki." he muttered.

"All who oppose Team Meteor will be silenced. Execute!"

'Damn it….he's doing that again…!' Vero turned to Kiki, seeing Garchomp rush up and slash her across the front, making her fall over in a puddle of blood.

"No!"

"Kiki!" Victoria rushed over to her.

"Solaris! This was NOT part of the plan!"

"She would have died in the flames regardless. You have no reason to be upset. You knew this would happen."

"No, I didn't want this! Forget it, I'm done!"

"Hm. It seems you're as weak as your brother advised, after all."

"Don't you DARE-...Yes, I am. I am weak. I am pathetic. I always have been. Kiki helped me realize that. And she helped me accept it. Strength isn't what's important. Or maybe it is, and maybe weakness is standing by, not doing anything to stop the things you hate from happening around you. I'll stop that right now. Magmortar. Destroy the PULSE. Blast Burn attack!" Magmortar instantly complied, retracting its claws and charging up its cannons on both arms, releasing a wave of fire that destroyed the Pulse and Camerupt along with it.

"Blake was right. You are insufferably useless. And you've killed your own teacher. Taka, the operation has failed. Retreat."

"Yes, Father." Both of them slid down the mountain with aid from their pokemon. Cal returned his Magmortar back to its pokeball and walked up to Victoria, holding Kiki's body.

"Victoria, I'm so sorry. I never meant for this to happen…"

"Then just what did you mean to happen, Cal? You meant to destroy all of Apophyll?"

"I wasn't-"

"Did you want me dead, too?"

"No!"

"What were you thinking?! Were you just lying to us the whole time? Did you even care at all?!"

"Victoria, I-"

"No! Don't talk to me! Go away!"

"I'm sorry."

"I don't even want to look at you right now."

"...That's fine." He walked away as well, scaling down the volcano with his Charizard.

"Are you okay?" Cain asked, walking over to the others.

"I'm fine. I'm just fine. But Kiki is-"

"Apophyll is safe thanks to her."

"That's right. She died protecting the place she loved. It was her home. Everyone there was her family. She built it from the ground up. She gave her life to it. And for it...Oh, Kiki...I'm so sorry. I'm so, so, sorry…..Vero, could you help carry her body back down?"

"Of course." The three descended together.

 **X**

All of the students attended her funeral, with Victoria, Vero, and Cain leading the procession. Despite not having a cemetery on the island, they found a peaceful spot behind the building aways where they buried her.

"We all remember Kiki's teachings. Everything that she taught us, she taught us not just as trainers, but as individuals as well. She wanted us to succeed at whatever path we chose. I have not met a wiser, more serene, or considerate person in my life. She was truly a model human being." Victoria finished up her sermon, stepping back to where the others were.

"Anything else you guys wanted to say?" She asked her two friends.

"No, you pretty much covered it." Cain replied.

"Vero?" she asked again, seeing him in deep thought.

"...Yes. Yes, there is." He stepped forward, addressing everyone. He took a deep breath before beginning.

"I'm not going to pretend that I knew Kiki half as well as the rest of you. After all, I only just arrived here today, and already I have to leave. But for the short time that I was here...I don't think that there's anyone else in this world that could have been her. I know I can't. The amount of patience she had was overwhelming. To have a terminal illness, and yet still continue on as if nothing was wrong for months...it's unthinkable. After I defeated her, and she collapsed, she was distraught because her perfect glass reputation had been destroyed, for everyone here to witness. And at first, I thought it was selfish, that keeping up appearances was more important to her than telling the truth to you, her treasured students. But then I used the one lesson that she taught me while I was here: To look at certain situations from a different perspective." All of their eyes widened, and Victoria covered her mouth, trying to fight back tears.

"She kept her illness under wraps not for herself, but for you. Because to her, you weren't just her students, you were her family. She must have thought of you as her children, and herself your mother. She wanted to appear as the perfect parent, someone who you could always believe had nothing wrong with her, and never would. Someone you could trust, someone you could love. I believe that once you saw what her body's real condition was, she was so afraid that you would no longer look up to her. But I also believe that despite Kiki leaving us, her passing will only help us grow closer together, and to grow stronger. And yes, your next sensei will not be the same as her, but as I explained, no one can be the same, and to each their own. Kiki's ideals will live on in all of us. Even someone like myself...she was that kind of person: the kind that despite only just meeting her, feels like you've known her for years. Thank you."

 **X**

They sat in silence, in Kiki's old room.

"...That was amazing, Vero. Thank you." Victoria sobbed, sitting close to him. She stood up and sighed, opening one of the drawers from the desk, and pulling out a disc.

"As owed to you by my former master, I present you, Vero, with the Machine, Strength." She handed it to him.

"Thank you."

"And having witnessed your struggle from your first steps, I would like nothing more than to offer you the Fury Badge, which you earned against Kiki before. However, I cannot. Because Kiki is...no longer a leader, that badge has been invalidated. I'll take care to contact Ame and make sure that the reserve Fighting Leader is notified. I will also be remaining here at the Academy henceforth." Vero's face faltered, looking up at her questioningly.

"Apophyll Academy needs a leader. Kiki chose me. So, I'm sorry, Vero. It looks like we won't be able to travel together anymore. So...you two have to beat the Reborn League for me, alright?"

"Usually when I'm asked to beat something, it's a little more intimate, but, you got it~"

"Do I even want to know?"

"Probably not, I'm just tryin' to lighten the mood~ But there are a few things that come first, you know?"

"Yeah. You still have to save the kids."

"And that means Vero has to beat Aya, huh? Alright Vero, I'm gonna head down to the Byxbysion Gate to open it for you tomorrow morning. You remember where it is, right? In the south Obsidia Ward. I'll be waiting~" He walked out, leaving Vero and Victoria alone. They once again remained silent for a while, as she sat down on the hammock, looking around the room.

"It really is over for us, huh…" he sighed.

"Stop...don't say anything...you're gonna make me cry…" she sobbed, rubbing her eyes.

"Victoria…" She jumped onto him, hugging him tightly.

"I don't want to stop travelling, Vero...I want to stay with you!" she cried into his shoulder.

"I know…" She sat on his lap, getting all of her tears out for the next 10 minutes, as Vero simply comforted her.

"It's dark out. I should head back now."

"Wait...take me with you."

"You don't want to be alone, do you?"

"No…"

"...Alright. Julia's escorting Amaria back home anyway, so I know she's staying up in Aventurine for a few nights."

"Thank you…"

 **X**

As soon as they walked in, Victoria started taking off her clothes.

"Are you feeling alright?"

"I just felt...suffocated wearing these. I need a shower. Come join me."

"Yeah, be there in a minute." He heard her go into the bathroom and turn the water on, as he walked over to his nightstand to put his bag down. He took out his Pokegear and texted Julia, Amaria, and Ame, telling them what happened, then taking off his clothes and going into the bathroom. She was already inside, sitting underneath the shower head, looking up at the ceiling, deep in thought. Vero did take notice of her body, and while he did still prefer Amaria in terms of sheer assets, Victoria was a rather valuable prize herself, with her large ass, buxom breasts, and ample nether region. But he wasn't as into it as he usually was. Not after today's events. He sighed, sitting across from her as she placed her feet on top of his.

"Tell me...how did all of this affect you? I think it's pretty clear how I reacted to everything, but...you've been rather calm and quiet throughout most of these events...what happened?"

He smiled at her, the most sincere smile he's ever given anyone since arriving in the region.

"Kiki's what happened. She made me think about things in a different way."

"...Looking at things in a different perspective, huh…?" she asked, looking down with a small smirk at the corners of her mouth.

"Yeah...I'm eager to save the kids and stop Team Meteor, but Kiki's very being was the opposite to what I was before. I was rash and impulsive. I wanted nothing more than to crush them every chance I got, because they reminded me so much of my past, and I didn't want a repeat of last time. I was nothing more than a kid with a traumatic event in my past, out for revenge. But Kiki...she was in pain. A kind of pain that I never experienced. The pain of not just feeling like you're going to die, but knowing that you're going to die. And yet, she was such a peaceful person. Almost as if she didn't mind it. Of course, she did on the inside. She loathed the thought, but I feel like she came to terms with it rather quickly."

"Yeah...after she learned of Team Meteor's motives, she went up the mountain without any concern for her own safety."

"Right. I wondered how she did it. To meet people with such heinous intentions and methods, and yet remain calm and not seethe with hatred and disdain. But it was then that I realized it wasn't her, it was me."

"What do you mean? You're not wrong to be angry with them, Vero. Everything they've done so far, they say is to restore Reborn into a better place, but is really just hurting it even more, to unimaginable lengths."

"Yes, and don't get me wrong. I'm still angry with them, and I'm still going to stop them. But...the way I was looking at it before, I treated them as if they were Team Magma and Team Aqua...And as long as I do that, I'll never be satisfied. I can never truly get revenge for my parents' deaths, because shortly after they happened, both teams were defeated by Hoenn's current and former champions. And for those that survived the disaster, most renounced their teams and were given a pardon for their actions, even the leaders. If I had decided to attack them, I would be considered a criminal, even though I would personally consider it justified. I also would have lost back then, considering that they were very strong trainers in their own right, and both could use Mega Evolution."

"Mega Evolution…? That's a term I haven't heard for a long time."

"You've heard of it?" he asked, somewhat surprised and impressed.

"Yes...when I first started studying at Apophyll, I became interested in the subject, so Kiki taught me a few things about it, but just the basics…"

"I see...Mega Evolution is a special type of evolution that some pokemon can undergo. If the pokemon possesses a mega stone specific to itself, and the trainer holds a keystone that can call upon that power, then they can channel the energy between the stones to allow the pokemon to evolve further, and gain a new form. The form greatly increases their abilities, and in some cases even changes their typing. But there are certain limits to it. First, not every pokemon can do it. A lot is still unknown about it, and only 4 dozen mega stones exist as of now. Also, supposedly a pokemon can only perform the feat if it has a strong bond with its trainer. If they don't get along, the power doesn't really work. And third and most importantly, it acts more like a transformation than another evolution. While the new forms are their full power, they can only remain in that state for one battle at a time before reverting. So it's temporary."

"How peculiar…"

"Victoria...there's something I wanted to say that I haven't told anyone yet, nor do I intend to until I get solid proof." His expression darkened.

"And that is…?" she asked, concerned.

"My sister was a scientist and researcher, and was exploring Mega Evolution and Primal Reversion, another type of transformation for the legendary pokemon. The night that we were attacked, the assailant was not just a common burglar. He made her tell him where her notes were, and stole them. It's just a theory, but...what if that guy worked with Team Meteor, and they're using her research to create the PULSE?"

"...What if it's true?"

"Then that would mean that all of this...is connected to my family. Reborn is in trouble because of us…"

"...Vero, it doesn't matter if your sister's the one who started it. She didn't want to use it for these purposes, and you're trying to stop them. Besides, you said that you weren't sure about it anyway. So don't think about it too much, okay?"

"...Yeah…..Yeah, okay."

"Vero...what are the kids like?"

"Huh? Why do you want to know?"

"I….thought that Cal would be the one for me….I guess I was just a schoolgirl in love….but after what happened, there's just no way that I can forgive him. I love you, because I know that you won't do anything stupid like that. I've...thought about having kids before. What it would be like to have a family...so what are they like?" She asked. The pained expression on her face was replaced by one of genuine curiosity.

"Well...there's four of them. Charlotte, the oldest one, is 16. She's a bit of a hothead, but I suppose that's not surprising, considering that she's the Fire Type Gym Leader. She's not a touchy feely kind of girl, but she cares about her friends greatly, for sure. Then there's Heather, who's also got a temper and often wants to be left alone, due to being raised restrictively. But right now she's a bit calmer due to what happened the other day."

"What happened?"

"You don't want to know. The third one is Noel, a young boy of about 13. He's a bit more quiet and thoughtful than the others, and worries about the consequences of our actions. But he's also Reborn's Normal Type Gym Leader, so he's strong. The last one is Anna, his twin sister. She's the cheery one, always excitable, and not really concerned about what happens to people we fight. Cute girl, really."

"They sound wonderful."

"Yes, they are. I have to help them."

"Yes…You said there were a few things you had to tell me...what else did you have in mind?"

"I...was going to tell you what really happened when I went to the orphanage in Lapis. Dr. Connel had been forcefully taking in orphans in order to perform shock therapy on them and mold them into mindless, obedient children."

"How horrible! No wonder why you didn't want to bring Shelly there! But Vero, why didn't you tell me before? Why did you lie about it?"

"Because you would have tried to call the police or something, or broke in with us. I don't want you doing shit like that, Victoria."

"Who are you to tell me what I can and can't do?"

"Your boyfriend, someone who's looking out for you. You need to be the leader of the Apophyll Academy, and stay on the right path. You let me worry about the dangerous stuff."

"...Okay…..I trust you…." She sighed, the two turning quiet again.

"Listen, Vero...about sex...I'm still not ready. Especially not after what happened today. Being there for me is all I need."

"I get it. Sure." They washed themselves and got out, drying off. Vero went and lied down on the bed, Victoria snuggling into him.

"How lucky I am to have you in my life." Victoria smiled. "For you to be there as soon as I lost my love for another man...thank you, Vero. For everything."

"It's what I do."

"I love you." She sighed, pushing closer into him.

"I love you too."

 **End.**


End file.
